a quick take on structural understanding...


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ THE THING BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Barney Miller on April 19, 1996 at 18:57:05:

ok,

I am me, precisely because I am _not_ you. Similarly, the west wall is exactly that not due to its inherent qualities, but because it is not the east wall, or the south, or the north. This issue of identity is tied-up with the first function of language, which is to discriminate. That is, language arises not from the need to know things by their names, but from the need to tell things apart, to judge between one thing and another.

Although this explanation may sound derivative, it is in fact the key to creativity. The art of creation lies not in invention, but in the process of calling a thing by another name; in a phrase, creating metaphor. Literature has meaning only in so far as it is able to play with language's instability. Literature that manages to reveal a new way of looking at a the world or which "creates" a fiction within itself is an example of art which explores the instability of language and which is worth your time as a reader.

Art is much the same: to look at an image and--through metaphor--to recognize something else is to see art. To use an image in a manner which invites this sort of experience is to make art. Go art!!


Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ THE THING BBS ] [ FAQ ]