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This ‘Letter from the Editors’ introduces two theories about the role of play in culture and society. Drawing on the work of Roger Caillois, the editors identify two types of play, broadly aligning each to the concerns and approaches taken in the two parts of this issue of the Nexus Network Journal. Thereafter, they introduce the papers that make up the second part of vol. 20, no. 1 (2018). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that Adorno's narrative of mimesis's development is best understood as not produced by a simple opposition between mimesis and reason, but rather a tri-partite conflict between mimesis, self-preservation, and reason. I develop this account with special reference to Roger Caillois, whose identification of mimesis with an organic drive toward passivity orthogonal to self-preservation had great influence on Adorno's own conception of mimesis. I show that Adorno sees mimesis as, at the outset, a raw impulse toward inaction and dissolution, which shares much in common with Freud's death drive (a connection Adorno himself notes). Drawing on this, I argue that Adorno's narrative of the development of mimetic behavior (in relation to magic, reason, and the artwork) is not driven solely by tendencies intrinsic to mimesis. Rather, it is the intensifying conflict between mimesis and the controlling and ordering principle of self-preservation that drives the formation of increasingly spiritualized forms of abstraction. This gives us cause to revise our understanding of Adorno's account of magical praxis and rationality, and the relationship between them. Finally, this allows me to recast Adorno's claim that the artwork becomes a "refuge" for mimesis. I argue that this should not be understood, as it often is, in terms of a flat antagonism between mimesis and reason. Rather, the artwork becomes a refuge for mimesis as a consequence of self-preservation's socio-epistemic intolerance of mimetic forms of behavior in virtually all realms of society save for a privileged few exceptions, art being the most notable of these. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an inquiry on the role of play in shaping the cultures of the Information Age. By applying concepts from Postphenomenology and the Philosophy of Information, this paper argues that play and computation share a capacity to shape human experience. I will apply the concept of re-ontologization to describe the effect that computation has had in shaping the world. I will apply the concept of relational strategies to argue that play is a way of interfacing with the computational world. This paper argues that play is a particularly relevant form of shaping the human experience of the re-ontologized infosphere because play, like computation, can create worlds. The goal of this article is to propose a research program that situates play as a relevant perspective to analyze the culture of the Information Age., Author(s): Miguel Sicart [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0004 0620 5453, grid.32190.39, Center for Computer Games Research, IT University of Copenhagen, , Rued Langgaards Vej 7, 2300, Copenhagen S, Denmark [...]

The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the therapeutic potential of fantastic literature for young people on the example of the series of novels by Rafał Kosik. The paper consists of three parts. The first part presents the definition of fantastic literature with reference to the concepts introduced by Tzvetan Todorov, Roger Caillois, Eric Rabkin and dictionary entries. Then the therapeutic function of literature is discussed by citing psychological theses on the importance of narrative in human life, as well as Roman Ingarden's theory of the aesthetic experience. This provides the basis for reflection on bibliotherapy and the use of fantastic literature within its framework. The third part of the article presents the concept of the series of novels about Felix, Net and Nika, referring to the opinions of critics and literary scholars. Subsequently the selected fragments of the novels are discussed, demonstrating their therapeutic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the concept of crypsis in Sjon's novella "The Blue Fox" and Jeff VanderMeer's work, examining how it manifests in nonhuman mimicry and cryptic storytelling. Topics include the adaptive strategy of background matching, its role in blurring the distinction between figure and ground, and the depersonalizing effects observed by scholars like Roger Caillois, shedding light on the profound implications for identity and the relationship between the animate and inanimate.

Caillois's classic text Man, Play and Games leaves open a basic question: Why focus on four specific kinds of play? Subsequent authors have offered their own rationalizations and expanded upon his game categories but have not explained Caillois's approach. This essay performs a close reading of Man, Play and Games in order to evince his methodology. I argue that Caillois holds to the idea that play reproduces uncertainty in a safe and confined way but that a paradox troubles this vision and pushes him into a baroque formalism. Instead of a simple relation between model and copy, Caillois develops another, stranger concept of mimesis that continues and extends his Surrealist writing about insects and the unconscious. My reading builds on previous analyses of Caillois within game studies, sociology, and media theory to revise the methodological presuppositions built into the categorization of games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An excerpt from the book Pierres réfléchies written by the author Roger Caillois regarding stones is presented.

This article focuses on the ambiguity of the sacred and looks at Roger Caillois's L'Homme et le sacré as a fundamental text for understanding the role of ambivalence in the dynamic relationship involving the duo sacred and profane. Due to the paucity of critical commentary in English on Caillois, the article first seeks to restore Callois's insights to our critical vocabulary. It then evaluates his work's analytical potential both substantively and historically, also in connection with the resurgence of Durkheimian studies. Finally, it argues that Caillois's emphasis on the relationship between pure and impure is fundamental for rethinking the dualism of sacred and profane, more specifically the oppositional logic by which the profane excludes the sacred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on establishing relation between play and creativity defining play as a tool which uses reflection and imagination for learning design process, socialization and creativity. Topics discussed include use of game play as a research tool to understand its effect on human psychology and design process, inferences from the book "Homo Ludens " in which the author Johan Huizinga refers play as a magic circle where players thinking and behavior are influenced by the irrational nature of play, and author Roger Caillois' taxonomy of play which describes play as competitive, game of chances and involves imitation and pretending.