One of the main ideas I pursue here is that the invention of writing has radically altered the way we think, not immediately, but eventually, through its impact on speech, which it transforms from one mode of expression among many into our main instrument of thought, which we call Language, in which the spoken form … Continue reading ‘These great concurrences of things’
Tag: Art
Where to Find Talking Bears, or The Needless Suspension of Disbelief
Something I have been struggling to pin down is a clear expression of my thoughts on the oft-quoted dictum of Coleridge, shown in its original context here: ‘it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a … Continue reading Where to Find Talking Bears, or The Needless Suspension of Disbelief
For us, there is only the trying
One thing that being a writer brings home to you is the tentative nature of all writing: it is always an attempt to say something - one that can be more or less successful - and it is always a struggle. And the more difficult the matter, the greater the struggle, because we are conscious … Continue reading For us, there is only the trying
Whistling in the Dark
Well, and if you were in utter darkness and heard someone whistle a few bars, the merest snatch of music - would your heart not lift? Your world would be transformed.
Head and Heart (1)
A thought about therapy in relation to art and music struck me after listening to James Rhodes in a TV programme, Notes from the Inside, in which he - a classical pianist and former psychiatric patient - takes a grand piano into a psychiatric hospital to play pieces he hopes will resonate with patients: calling … Continue reading Head and Heart (1)
A Way of Thinking
Poetry is a way of thinking. By ‘poetry’ I mean not just poetry but everything that works in a similar fashion - by imagination and instinct - such as music and art generally (it’s handy to remember that ‘poetry’ just means ‘making’) - and by ‘thinking’ I mean rather more than the narrow sense in … Continue reading A Way of Thinking
But is it REAL? Is Art a Joke? – Five Funny Things
I have been thinking about abstraction recently, particularly the relation of what is abstracted to what it has been abstracted from, since it seems to me to have a bearing on things that are of interest to me, such as philosophy, metaphor and art. So I was amused to run across a couple of things … Continue reading But is it REAL? Is Art a Joke? – Five Funny Things
A strange and deep-rooted suspicion: why does art make us uncomfortable?
Here is a list of words that all relate to laudable, creative activity - as practised by artists, writers and the like - but what else do they have in common? fabrication fantasy fiction imaginary invention made-up story tale Yes - they can all be used in a pejorative sense, as synonyms for deceit or … Continue reading A strange and deep-rooted suspicion: why does art make us uncomfortable?
Anodyne
Anodyne: it’s an interesting word. Strictly, it means a medicine that allays pain, as its etymology suggests, being from the Greek for ‘painless’, or ‘without pain’. A good thing, then, you would think; so it is interesting to consider how it has come to have a pejorative sense, particularly as applied to literature. Pain and … Continue reading Anodyne
COMPLEAT TROWZER 