tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post3966882501383498299..comments2024-03-10T23:01:51.493-05:00Comments on Stupid Motivational Tricks / Bemsha Swing: A Weird Trick about the Autonomy of ArtJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-55254368846515246902014-09-15T07:44:00.963-05:002014-09-15T07:44:00.963-05:00FWIW, wasn't really meant to be a swipe, Vance...FWIW, wasn't really meant to be a swipe, Vance. It was a more or less sincere suggestion to let "writing emotions down" cover a lot of territory, distinct mainly from "writing concepts down" (philosophy), "describing facts" (science) and "prescribing acts" (politics). It's in the same spirit as distinguishing poetry from "business documents andThomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-62609383133993883422014-09-14T10:43:54.129-05:002014-09-14T10:43:54.129-05:00I was probably influenced by the passage of Tolsto...I was probably influenced by the passage of Tolstoy which Google tells me was quoted by Marianne Moore:<br /><br /><i>Where the boundary between prose and poetry lies I shall never be able to understand. The question is raised in manuals of style, yet the answer to it lies beyond me. Poetry is verse: prose is not verse. Or else poetry is everything with the exception of business documents and Vance Maverickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07477306994564623348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-28530797125596777752014-09-14T09:18:23.952-05:002014-09-14T09:18:23.952-05:00I guess you could say the purpose of a painting is...I guess you could say the purpose of a painting is to cover a stain on the wall. That might be true for any given painting and wall. It might also be true that the entire debate makes little sense (Vance) or that not everyone shares the existential wonder about the very existence of music or poetry. In fact, my experience in academia shows me that my own position is not universal even among Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-29751309376136247412014-09-14T05:35:04.568-05:002014-09-14T05:35:04.568-05:00I guess I'm just not as awed by art as some. I...I guess I'm just not as awed by art as some. I do admire it when it's good, but I have little reverence for it. So I'm not puzzled by the existence of poetry at all. I do feel like I've developed (at least for my own use) a pretty good "general account of [its] purpose". Poetry is the art of writing emotions down. If that seems narrow to you, it's because you have a Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-38256934461353885302014-09-13T21:59:19.792-05:002014-09-13T21:59:19.792-05:00I must have burned out on this discussion a long t...I must have burned out on this discussion a long time ago, around the time I was hanging out with Andrew Gelman in Berkeley. I think I am profoundly content not to have an answer to the question of the purpose of art.<br /><br />Someone was asking me the other day about what I took to be meaningful in life. I told her I didn't even know what that meant. Linguistic meaning I understand, that Vance Maverickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07477306994564623348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-64963042539520418162014-09-13T16:04:56.229-05:002014-09-13T16:04:56.229-05:00I agree completely with most of what you're sa...I agree completely with most of what you're saying, but I think I interpret Koch's line differently, not as hip irony but as an existential question. Like "'why does it exist in the first place?" It evokes a nervous laughter because we don't know what to do with it. <br /><br />Being wonderful gives it the capacity to re-write subjectivity in multiple ways. I guess my Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-39574011267527667932014-09-13T04:31:43.707-05:002014-09-13T04:31:43.707-05:00Maybe I've misunderstood what you mean by &quo...Maybe I've misunderstood what you mean by "wonderful" (but not, I think, what Andrew meant). If you just mean "exceptionally good" then I think you give too narrow a sense to "art for art's sake". It's simply <i>too</i> circular to say that the purpose of a guitar solo is to be a great guitar solo.<br /><br />But I agree (with you, I think) that it's Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.com