Comments on: Art Responses http://indessed.com/roscivs/2007/03/04/art-responses/ a little poison now and then, that makes for pleasant dreams Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:33:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Nathan http://indessed.com/roscivs/2007/03/04/art-responses/#comment-16 Nathan Sat, 10 Mar 2007 17:32:06 +0000 http://indessed.com/blog/2007/03/04/art-responses/#comment-16 Yes, I think how easily we integrate a piece of art into our own private world of symbols is a really important factor to consider, and a great artist will often be able to reach many people on this level. (Hence, in large part, the marvel of Shakespeare--the Japanese dig him, so do the Germans, the Persians...everybody! He "speaks" to people on a fundamental level.) I think I'm conflating two somewhat different things there, but whatever! Onward we go. Have you read Borges' essay about how every writer creates his own antecedents? He mentions a few favorite authors (Kafka is one of them, if I recall correctly) and points out their literary antecedents, and then says, "None of these writers had anything in common until they became Kafka's literary influences"--an exaggeration, of course, but not much of one. I think that's a really good example of what you're talking about here. Yes, I think how easily we integrate a piece of art into our own private world of symbols is a really important factor to consider, and a great artist will often be able to reach many people on this level. (Hence, in large part, the marvel of Shakespeare–the Japanese dig him, so do the Germans, the Persians…everybody! He “speaks” to people on a fundamental level.)

I think I’m conflating two somewhat different things there, but whatever! Onward we go.

Have you read Borges’ essay about how every writer creates his own antecedents? He mentions a few favorite authors (Kafka is one of them, if I recall correctly) and points out their literary antecedents, and then says, “None of these writers had anything in common until they became Kafka’s literary influences”–an exaggeration, of course, but not much of one. I think that’s a really good example of what you’re talking about here.

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