Just a quick post about some ideas I've been playing with (coming from my IDS class). Presented as quotable quotes - the first is the basis for the second and third.
"The problem with trying to define something is that what you are trying to define is constantly changing, and so is not finite. Describe instead. And for God's sake, use poetry!"
"Artists will always try to escape any confining definition of art. So stop arguing over the question of what is art!"
"Any definition of what it is to be human will always exclude some, unless you use a circular definition: what is human is human."
I received the following in email from a friend (Kenix). I'm posting it with permission and because I like what she says. :)
ReplyDelete"I really wonder who the hell has written those brillant quotes about definition? Langer? or who else?
"Not just definition, but words themselves are double-edged swords - we're giving meaning while we're killing it. Like describing a particular moment during traveling, or try to describe a wonderful sunset, you just really struggle on what words to put coz whatever particular adjective or sentence you choose, you're giving up other possible adjectives that make you feel inadequate deeply. So when you try to capture a moment with language, you're already losing/killing that moment. That's a pain. It is, in Derrida's terms, pharmacological - both healing and poison. But well, that's a paradox and human beings love paradox. And that's why we have poets and some of us love poetry.
- I think, if we take every words/language seriously, we can't even communicate.
- I think, if I can imagine a world without language, i can be a poet.
(you must read Rainer Maria Rilke, a fucking gorgeous Austrian german language poet. At least check out Duino Elegies)
The first two of Rilke's Elegies can be found here.
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