Re: ' I'm afraid your substituting of "real" and "not fiction" is wrong. The opposite of "fiction" is not "real," but "non-fiction,"
Oh I don't think there is any one, cast iron opposite to fiction. Fictional can be contrasted to real or true just as easily as to non-fictional (which is really a specialist bookseller's and librarian's word mainly, isn't it? My point simply is that to much emphasis on the fictional nature of art can easily lead to the question: 'Well what is its use then? Just escapism?' And then to the further conclusion that the only things that tell us about 'real life' are science, accounting, cookbooks etc. DA On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 5:23 AM, Michael Brady <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On May 1, 2008, at 3:02 PM, Derek Allan wrote: > > Well you have just said that art is 'fiction' and you endorsed William's > > view that it is meaningless. What then is real (ie not fiction) and > > meaningful? Answer must be: 'real life'. No? > > > > I'm afraid your substituting of "real" and "not fiction" is wrong. The > opposite of "fiction" is not "real," but "non-fiction," and those two terms > are not synonymous. > > I've explained my use of "fiction" on this list before. I mean that the > representation in a WoA does NOT have to conform in all particulars to the > model, as a representation would have to in other, non-artworks. > > Consider a map. A "real" map, i.e., a "nonfiction" diagram, is expected to > have a degree of accurate conformity to real objects in real space. Road > lines on a map should (generally, within the range of the scale of drawing) > correctly portray the actual location of the road, and likewise with > building, rivers, mountains, etc. That is the first criterion of a map: > fidelity and accuray. After that, qualities of color, linear marks, symbols, > etc., are embellishments that add to the pleasure of looking at the map. > Now, consider the map of Treasure Island: It can show almost anything at > all, but granted it must show the locales and details mentioned in the > story. So, it's contingent, too, on the story, which itself is a free > creation. You can't sail to Treasure Island by following the map on the > endleaves of the book (the edition I remember reading as a boy), so in that > sense, it's not a true map. > > There are many examples of this boundary of fiction between art and > nonart, no matter how narrow Jasper Johns wanted to make it. > > | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | > Michael Brady > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- Derek Allan http://www.home.netspeed.com.au/derek.allan/default.htm
