Mr. Holland's Week On Monday, August 18, 2003, Bending Over Backward The word "lout" here refers to On Thursday, August 21, 2003, For some other occurrences of this number, The "three days" remark referred to above Those who share Mel Gibson's
Philosophers ponder the idea of identity: "Ask a stupid question..." For further details, see |
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Birthday Tablet "Of the world's countless customs and traditions, perhaps none is as elegant, nor as beautiful, as the tradition of sangaku, Japanese temple geometry." Sangaku means "mathematical tablet." Here is a sangaku for For an explanation, |
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O'Hara's Fingerpost In The New York Times Book Review of next Sunday (August 24, 2003), Book Review editor Charles McGrath writes that author John O'Hara "... discovered a kind of story... in which a line of dialogue or even a single observed detail indicates that something crucial has changed." From the Online Etymology Dictionary: crucial - 1706, from Fr. crucial... from L. crux (gen. crucis) "cross." The meaning "decisive, critical" is extended from a logical term, Instantias Crucis, adopted by Francis Bacon (1620); the notion is of cross fingerboard signposts at forking roads, thus a requirement to choose. The remainder of this note deals with the "single observed detail" 162.
Instantias Crucis Francis Bacon says "Among Prerogative Instances I will put in the fourteenth place Instances of the Fingerpost, borrowing the term from the fingerposts which are set up where roads part, to indicate the several directions. These I also call Decisive and Judicial, and in some cases, Oracular and Commanding Instances. I explain them thus. When in the investigation of any nature the understanding is so balanced as to be uncertain to which of two or more natures the cause of the nature in question should be assigned on account of the frequent and ordinary concurrence of many natures, instances of the fingerpost show the union of one of the natures with the nature in question to be sure and indissoluble, of the other to be varied and separable; and thus the question is decided, and the former nature is admitted as the cause, while the latter is dismissed and rejected. Such instances afford very great light and are of high authority, the course of interpretation sometimes ending in them and being completed. Sometimes these instances of the fingerpost meet us accidentally among those already noticed, but for the most part they are new, and are expressly and designedly sought for and applied, and discovered only by earnest and active diligence." Inter praerogativas instantiarum, ponemus loco decimo quarto Instantias Crucis; translato vocabulo a Crucibus, quae erectae in biviis indicant et signant viarum separationes. Has etiam Instantias Decisorias et Judiciales, et in casibus nonnullis Instantias Oraculi et Mandati, appellare consuevimus. Earum ratio talis est. Cum in inquisitione naturae alicujus intellectus ponitur tanquam in aequilibrio, ut incertus sit utri naturarum e duabus, vel quandoque pluribus, causa naturae inquisitae attribui aut assignari debeat, propter complurium naturarum concursum frequentem et ordinarium, instantiae crucis ostendunt consortium unius ex naturis (quoad naturam inquisitam) fidum et indissolubile, alterius autem varium et separabile ; unde terminatur quaestio, et recipitur natura illa prior pro causa, missa altera et repudiata. Itaque hujusmodi instantiae sunt maximae lucis, et quasi magnae authoritatis; ita ut curriculum interpretationis quandoque in illas desinat, et per illas perficiatur. Interdum autem Instantiae Crucis illae occurrunt et inveniuntur inter jampridem notatas; at ut plurimum novae sunt, et de industria atque ex composito quaesitae et applicatae, et diligentia sedula et acri tandem erutae. -- Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, Book Two, "Aphorisms," Section XXXVI A Cubist Crucifixion An alternate translation: "When in a Search of any Nature the Understanding stands suspended, the Instances of the Fingerpost shew the true and inviolable Way in which the Question is to be decided. These Instances afford great Light..." From a review by Adam White Scoville of Iain Pears's novel titled An Instance of the Fingerpost: "The picture, viewed as a whole, is a cubist description, where each portrait looks strikingly different; the failings of each character's vision are obvious. However, in a cubist painting the viewer often can envision the subject in reality. Here, even after turning the last page, we still have a fuzzy view of what actually transpired. Perhaps we are meant to see the story as a cubist retelling of the crucifixion, as Pilate, Barabbas, Caiaphas, and Mary Magdalene might have told it. If so, it is sublimely done so that the realization gradually and unexpectedly dawns upon the reader. The title, taken from Sir Francis Bacon, suggests that at certain times, 'understanding stands suspended' and in that moment of clarity (somewhat like Wordsworth's 'spots of time,' I think), the answer will become apparent as if a fingerpost were pointing at the way. The final narrative is also titled An Instance of the Fingerpost, perhaps implying that we are to see truth and clarity in this version. But the biggest mystery of this book is that we have actually have no reason to credit the final narrative more than the previous three and so the story remains an enigma, its truth still uncertain." For the "162" enigma, see The Matthias Defense, and The Still Point and the Wheel. See also the December 2001 Esquire and the conclusion of my previous entry. |
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Intelligence Test From my August 31, 2002, entry quoting Dr. Maria Montessori on conciseness, simplicity, and objectivity: Above: Dr. Harrison Pope, Harvard professor of psychiatry, demonstrates the use of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale "block design" subtest. Another Harvard psychiatrist, Armand Nicholi, is in the news lately with his book The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life.
For the meaning of the Old-Testament logos above, see the remarks of Plato on the immortality of the soul at For the meaning of the New-Testament logos above, see the remarks of R. P. Langlands at The Institute for Advanced Study. For the meaning of life, see The Gospel According to Jill St. John, whose birthday is today. |
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Entries since Xanga's Sunday, August 17, 2003 2:00 PM A Thorny Crown of... From the first episode of
Going There, Part I
Going There, Part II
Saturday, August 16, 2003 6:00 AM Varnedoe's Crown Kirk Varnedoe, 57, art historian and former curator of the Museum of Modern Art, died Thursday, August 14, 2003. From his New York Times obituary: " 'He loved life in its most tangible forms, and so for him art was as physical and pleasurable as being knocked down by a wave,' said Adam Gopnik, the writer and a former student of his who collaborated on Mr. Varnedoe's first big show at the Modern, 'High & Low.' 'Art was always material first — it was never, ever bound by a thorny crown of ideas.' " For a mini-exhibit of ideas in honor of Varnedoe, see Verlyn Klinkenborg on Varnedoe: "I was always struck by the tangibility of the words he used.... It was as if he were laying words down on the table one by one as he used them, like brushes in an artist's studio. That was why students crowded into his classes and why the National Gallery of Art had overflow audiences for his Mellon Lectures earlier this year. Something synaptic happened when you listened to Kirk Varnedoe, and, remarkably, something synaptic happened when he listened to you. You never knew what you might discover together." Perhaps even a "thorny crown of ideas"?
Varnedoe's death coincided with "To what extent does this idea of a civic life produced by sense of adversity correspond to actual life in Brasília? I wonder if it is something which the city actually cultivates. Consider, for example the cathedral, on the monumental axis, a circular, concrete framed building whose sixteen ribs are both structural and symbolic, making a structure that reads unambiguously as a crown of thorns; other symbolic elements include the subterranean entrance, the visitor passing through a subterranean passage before emerging in the light of the body of the cathedral. And it is light, shockingly so...." -- Modernist Civic Space: The Case of Brasilia, by Richard J. Williams, Department of History of Art, University of Edinburgh, Scotland Friday, August 15, 2003 3:30 PM ART WARS: The Boys from Brazil It turns out that the elementary half-square designs used in Diamond Theory
also appear in the work of artist Nicole Sigaud. Sigaud's website The ANACOM Project has a page that leads to the artist Athos Bulcão, famous for his work in Brasilia. From the document Conceptual Art in an by Angélica Madeira: "Athos created unique visual plans, tiles of high poetic significance, icons inseparable from the city." As Sigaud notes, two-color diagonally-divided squares play a large part in the art of Bulcão. The title of Madeira's article, and the remarks of Anna Chave on the relationship of conceptual/minimalist art to fascist rhetoric (see my May 9, 2003, entries), suggest possible illustrations for a more politicized version of Diamond Theory:
Is it safe? These illustrations were suggested in part by the fact that today is the anniversary of the death of Macbeth, King of Scotland, and in part by the following illustrations from my journal entries of July 13, 2003 comparing a MOMA curator to Lady Macbeth:
Thursday, August 14, 2003 3:45 AM Famous Last Words The ending of an Aug. 14 Salon.com article on Mel Gibson's new film, "The Passion": " 'The Passion' will most likely offer up the familiar puerile, stereotypical view of the evil Jew calling for Jesus' blood and the clueless Pilate begging him to reconsider. It is a view guaranteed to stir anew the passions of the rabid Christian, and one that will send the Jews scurrying back to the dark corners of history." -- Christopher Orlet "Scurrying"?! The ghost of Joseph Goebbels, who famously portrayed Jews as sewer rats doing just that, must be laughing -- perhaps along with the ghost of Lady Diana Mosley (née Mitford), who died Monday. This goes well with a story that Orlet tells at his website: "... to me, the most genuine last words are those that arise naturally from the moment, such as
Voltaire's response to a request that he foreswear Satan: 'This is no time to make new enemies.' " For a view of Satan as an old, familiar, acquaintance, see the link to Prince Ombra in my entry last October 29 for Goebbels's birthday. Wednesday, August 13, 2003 3:00 PM Best Picture For some reflections inspired in part by
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 4:44 PM Atonement: A sequel to my entry "Catholic Tastes" of July 27, 2003. Some remarks of Wallace Stevens that seem appropriate on this date: "It may be that one life is a punishment -- Esthétique du Mal, Wallace Stevens "Unless we believe in the hero, what is there -- Examination of the Hero in a Time of War, Wallace Stevens Etymology of "Atonement": "Middle English atonen, to be reconciled, from at one, in agreement" At One "... We found, -- Asides on the Oboe, Wallace Stevens Tuesday, August 12, 2003 1:52 PM Franken & 'Stein, "Tue August 12, 2003 04:10 AM ET
For answers, click on the pictures |
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