proximoception (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
proximoception) wrote2006-05-08 04:46 am
proximoception) wrote2006-05-08 04:46 am
(no subject)
Borges:
The second time--"And miles to go before I sleep"--we are made to feel that the miles are not only in space but in time, and that "sleep" means "die" or "rest." Had the poet said so in so many words, he would have been far less effective. Because, as I understand it, anything suggested is far more effective than anything laid down. Perhaps the human mind has a tendency to deny a statement. Remember what Emerson said: arguments convince nobody. They convince nobody because they are presented as arguments. Then we look at them, we weigh them, we turn them over, and we decide against them.
But when something is merely said or--better still--hinted at, there is a kind of hospitality in our imagination. We are ready to accept it.
The second time--"And miles to go before I sleep"--we are made to feel that the miles are not only in space but in time, and that "sleep" means "die" or "rest." Had the poet said so in so many words, he would have been far less effective. Because, as I understand it, anything suggested is far more effective than anything laid down. Perhaps the human mind has a tendency to deny a statement. Remember what Emerson said: arguments convince nobody. They convince nobody because they are presented as arguments. Then we look at them, we weigh them, we turn them over, and we decide against them.
But when something is merely said or--better still--hinted at, there is a kind of hospitality in our imagination. We are ready to accept it.
no subject
Actually I think a lot of the force of deconstructive/theoretical readings of literature -- readings which stress an essentially philosophical cognitive power to poetry, as in de Man -- comes from the fact that we're ready to embrace elusive arguments once we understand them. Not only ready, but eager. The ground we've won seems ground worth keeping.
(no subject)
no subject
Assassins (about Presidential assassins)
Marie Christine (setting Medea in the South at the turn of the century)
Parade (the lynching of Leo Frank)
Floyd Collins (famous story of the caver who was trapped; same story was filmed by Billy Wilder as Ace in the Hole)
The Wild Party (about true connection during a night of incest, drugs, and liquor. If you're planning on getting CDs, look for the Broadway version, not the Off-Broadway version.)
Sweeney Todd (currently on Broadway, as seen in my icon; about the infamous murderous barber)
There are a few great shows. Well, Marie Christine isn't my favorite, but it's still worthwhile for the most part. Also, I don't know where you live, but the musical version of Light in the Piazza is airing on PBS sometime in June (maybe the 15th?) and although that story's not exactly dark, at least it's intelligent and moving, two things that many people don't associate with musical theatre.
Proposal