... than this: the great Jacques Barzun on A LITTLE MATTER OF SENSE.
I have been reading Barzun's The Culture We Deserve. It makes me feel that I am a barbarian. And, compared to Professor Barzun, I am. You are, too, probably.
See also Jacques Barzun “InDepth”.
I agree with Barzun on many points; it's
ReplyDeleteBut I think he overstates the case for plain speech in criticism by rejecting any notion of an essay be a creative act in its own rite. He seems to say that all criticism should be simple reviewing, simple translation, and never a response to great art. It seems to me that some of the best critical writing I've read about painting, for example Robert Hughes at his best, remains utterly plain and clear but also tells us how Hughes responded to the art. It's not merely reviewing or translation, it's lucid and lovely writing in its own merit.
Where is Montaigne in all this? Surely Montaigne was a critic, but (like PL Travers style of "thinking is linking" in her essays, which I love to re-read) Montaigne ranged far and wide, and his criticism grew to become its own art. In other words, a response to art becomes a jumping-off point for new art-making. Artists do this all the time. It seems to that Barzun rejects this, which I can't agree with.
I wouldn't agree with that, either, Art, and I like your point about criticism's serving a jumping off point to arrive at something altogether new. But I just took Barzun to be focusing on pretentious, obscurantist writing substituting for substance. That final quote, I think, says it all: when you strip away the bloviation all you have left are banalities. I particularly liked his mocking the use of the term "strategy."
ReplyDeleteThe two of you, per usual, make solid sense; however, I do think Barzun did write a great sentence:
ReplyDelete"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game."
I often think of it when I think of things totally NOT related to baseball (but, perhaps, more generally, to culture in NA), if that makes sense.