A representation of \mathfrak{gl}(V)=V \otimes V^{\ast} is a linear map \mu \colon \mathfrak{gl}(V) \otimes M \rightarrow M satisfying a certain identity. By currying, giving a linear map \mu is equivalent to giving a linear map a \colon V \otimes M \rightarrow V \otimes M , and one can translate the condition for \mu to be a representation into a condition on a . This alternate formulation does not use the dual of V and makes sense for any object V in a tensor category \mathcal{C} . We call such objects representations of the curried general linear algebra on V . The currying process can be carried out for many algebras built out of a vector space and its dual, and we examine several cases in detail. We show that many well-known combinatorial categories are equivalent to the curried forms of familiar Lie algebras in the tensor category of linear species; for example, the titular Brauer category is the curried form of the symplectic Lie algebra. This perspective puts these categories in a new light, has some technical applications, and suggests new directions to explore.
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