An aesthetics of inadequacy.

August 16, 2002 9:31 PM

An aesthetics of inadequacy. "Despite Aeschylus's statement, 'All knowledge comes from suffering,' all that came from my suffering was suffering." An interview with Alan Shapiro, the author of Song and Dance, about poetry as an attempt of mourning.
posted by semmi (3 comments total)

The best tragedies appeal to our desire for art to redeem or make sense of the terrible things that happen to us, and at the same time acknowledge the improbability of it ever doing so.

Whenever I direct a play, thoughts like this fly through my heart. We want the art we make to have an effect - hopefully a useful effect - on the audience, but are always dogged by the fact that it is so hard - so very hard - to truly have an effect on a person's life.

Thank you for the link, semmi. I am going to look into Shapiro's work.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:58 PM on August 16, 2002

Yes, thanks. The remark about tragedy reminded me of my current big read, Musil's The Man Without Qualities. I had Alan mixed up with krusty old Karl, bard of the cantankerous, for a moment. Tried to track back, too, but it did not seem to work. Dang! Off to the FAQs I go ....
posted by hairyeyeball at 4:33 AM on August 17, 2002

I'm wondering about the meaning of small response to a posting. Is it because to its perfection there is little to add, or because the post is uninteresting to most people?

Either way, I'm enjoying the company as I worked in the theater in an earlier life, and Musil's The Man Without Qualities is one of the top concentratedly beautiful and meaningful experiences in my life, and even though around volume 2 my wife #2 of 13 years has left me, the depth of the book's enjoyment didn't diminish, to the contrary...
posted by semmi at 12:43 PM on August 17, 2002