I’m a philosopher, and on the job I ‘ve been known to read literary works as “premises with feet.” Despite that occupational hazard I’m also fascinated with how great fiction writers can seamlessly integrate abstract philosophical themes with concrete literary portrayals. When I teach Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, my focus in class is philosophical, but […]
Howard Roark and Peter Keating: first meetings Read More »
“With his Fountain (1917), Duchamp made the quintessential statement about the history and future of art. Duchamp of course knew the history of art and, given recent trends, where art was going. He knew what had been achieved — how over the centuries art had been a powerful vehicle that called upon the highest development
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain (1917) | The ‘Father’ of Conceptual Art Read More »
The cartoon reminds me of an earlier post about Rimsky-Korsakov on the “hardship” of the composer’s life. According to Shostakovich: “Rimsky-Korsakov used to say that he refused to acknowledge any complaints from composers about their hard lot in life. He explained his position thus: Talk to a bookkeeper and he’ll start complaining about life and
The difficulties of being/not being an artist Read More »
From a later preface to Hans of Iceland, originally published anonymously in 1823: “When a man’s prime is past, when his head is bowed, when he feels compelled to write something more than strange stories to frighten old women and children, when all the rough edges of youth are worn away by the friction of
Victor Hugo on the power of the mature writer Read More »
A favorite poem, by Rupert Brooke, which I sometimes use in my Introduction to Philosophy course. The Great Loverby Rupert Brooke I have been so great a lover: filled my daysSo proudly with the splendour of Love’s praise,The pain, the calm, and the astonishment,Desire illimitable, and still content,And all dear names men use, to cheat
Some fascinating glimpses of Franz Liszt, the virtuoso pianist and composer. Biographer Alan Walker writes:
More on how great artists become great: Liszt Read More »
Plato was an advocate of censorship of all the arts. But he did allow for some exceptions, so the cartoon above need not be only about ego-boosting hypocrisy. Here’s my summary of Plato’s arguments for censorship, as presented in The Republic. (Image source: An early edition of Douglas Palmer’s fun Does the Center Hold? An
Plato and art that is more noble Read More »
Reprising this post on a fascinating and oft-debated issue: Beethoven’s sense of life. To start — three sensitive commentators on the meaning of Beethoven’s music. * Hermann Hesse, the Nobel-Prize-winning novelist, in Steppenwolf, contrasting Mozart to Beethoven (and to Kleist, who committed suicide at age 34): “You have lent a deaf ear to those that
Beethoven’s romantic fatalism Read More »