You will encounter many unfamiliar names in Sontag's essay, but these shouldn't deter you from grasping the main points of her argument. Over the next few readings we will be exploring some of the issues called up in this piece, namely, the relationship between speech, silence and (re) estrangement or alienation. Particularly in _Deaf_ and in Sinyavsky's short story, "Pkhentz," we will consider how silence and broken speech butt up against the dead or tone-deaf language of the modern state and its bureaucratese.
As we figure out what exactly Sontag means by an "aesthetics of silence," we should think about both of these terms. What are the forms and purpose of art /and/ silence per Sontag? In order to put our composition exercises on clarity and concision into practice, I have assigned each of you one section for which you must provide a one-sentence distillation of the main argument. Be sure to get these up by 1 pm, since I will be making a masterlist for the class, which will form the basis of our discussion.
Art that is "silent," whether traditional or contemporary art, is differentiated by looking and staring.
ReplyDeleteSilence elevates art beyond limitations and its ambiguity captivates curiosity from both viewers and artists.
ReplyDeleteIII. In modern art, the conceptual gap between an artist and his or her audience represents the silence that artists aim to achieve.
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II. Silence brings a greater gravity to the arts through its abandonment by freeing the author from his or her work and its interpretations.
ReplyDelete--Jesse
Contemporary language is too crude, and man will return to a "natural language", which is used by animals and free from distortion, when he recovers paradise.
ReplyDelete16. The contemporary appeal for silence does not mean it dismisses language it is a part of language. In other words, silence then amplifies language in that you fill it with your own language.
ReplyDelete5. Silence in art or the silencing of art can ultimately be beneficial, but it can also be inconsistent and cause loss of substance and meaning.
ReplyDelete1: As the activity of the mystic must end in a via negativa, a theology of God's absence, a craving for the cloud of unknowingness beyond knowledge and for the silence beyond speech, so art must tend towards anti-art, the elimination of the "subject" (the "object," the "image"), the substitution of chance for intention, and the pursuit of silence. (2)
ReplyDelete19: The value placed on silence doesn’t arise by virtue of the nature of art, but derives from the contemporary ascription of certain “absolute” qualities to the art object and to the activity of the artist. (16)
20: it could be argued that silence is likely to remain a viable notion for modern art and consciousness only if deployed with a considerable, near systematic irony. (17)
21: …the serious art of our time has moved increasingly toward the most excruciating inflections of consciousness. Conceivably, irony is the only feasible counterweight to this grave use of art as the arena for the ordeal of consciousness. (18)
6: Contemporary art is shifting focus to represent the fact that people have nothing to express and simply long for silence.
ReplyDelete15. Language should be condensed greatly, beginning with the simple naming of things, and focusing on merely the important things.
ReplyDelete17. Some assert that written language eliminates the possibility of language as art, but the key criterion for having literature as art is "speaking for the sake of speaking."
ReplyDelete18. The language of literature is literal, and bare in it's meaning; it is a self sufficient language.
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ReplyDeleteDue to language and its ability to posses and reference historical thoughts, the creativity of an artist is continually influenced by an instinct to compare his work with that of those who came before.
19. Modern art has combined the beauty of silence and ineffability that arises from silence.
ReplyDeleteglad to find this post
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