Andreas methods 05-12-18

The Culture of the Copy: Striking Likenesses, Unreasonable Facsimiles By Hillel Schwartz (MIT/Zone books)

In the Chapter „Once More, With Feeling“ Hillel Schwartz is talking about reenactments and replications. Schwartz begins with game Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books. by H.G. Wells and compares its strategic values to the tactics of chess. The author goes on with depicting the importance of drill in-between strategy and tactics on parade grounds and killing grounds. Maurice, Prince of Orange, captain-general of Holland introduced drill during the 1950s to gain flexibility and speed, ultimately gaining the decisive advantage in battles. He states that the repetition of exercising with tabletop wargames would be the drill for officers. Over decades this has played an important role at war, but in another form: the form of a green table. Either Napoleon or even German coastal commanders on D-Day. „The kriegspiel had to consist of attacks whose repetition led to unintended results.“ Further on the author is writing about computer programs supporting war games or even instigating nuclear alerts, like the NORAD war game in 1979. He also brings up Peter Youngs idea, that war games can also be a mode of denial, saying „One has yet to see an enjoyable evening’s play based on the destruction of Nagasaki“.

Schwartz is then talking about museums opening to the pageantry and public education around 1900. He is stating that history must outlive the past and puts up the famous epigram „Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it“ by the philosopher George Santayana.

The writer states, that the illusion of reversibility can also be a reason for reenactments, like the Battle of Bull Run, in which the North and South joined in the end to sing „God Bless America“. Or American veterans who return to Vietnam to „find peace“ of their trauma. He sums it up perfectly in this sentence: „What’s done, if it can’t be undone, can be redone, once more, with feeling.“