In a message dated 7/13/08 8:07:10 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> I think you have to start with fuzzy in order to get to precise. There are > some words often used here-art, beauty, aesthetic experience- whose meaning > is > the point of the discussion and which will probably never get to a precise > point of meaning. we are chasing the various ramifications of the > fuzziness > which surrounds them,and it is possible that the best we can do is to be as > precise as we can in describing what aspect of their fuzziness we are > discussing. > KAte sullivan > Agreed, and in truth most exchanges on this forum and in life are what I call serviceably clear. And damn near everything this touches on is a matter of degree -- of clarity, of intensity of aesthetic response, etc. -- thus resisting the discreting, stabilizing inclination of words. There's a peculiar problem that obtains in language far more than it does in visual art: With language, very often people don't REALIZE when they're being unclear. I'm aware that I'm a pest in my repeated pushing for greater clarity, but I'm content to press on because it serves to pressure me as well as others. But it's almost a two-fold job. It's not just, "Let's describe our notion here or there to make it less fuzzy, and thus improve our effort to convey what's on our minds." It's, "This phrase is fatally ambiguous; it'll excite all sorts of different notions in those who read it. Not only that, but I'll bet the original notion in your mind was fuzzy." No one likes to be told that; it's even been a frequent jolt to me when I realize I've been using a term with confidence for years that I now see has been fuzzy as hell. A parallel jolt comes when, even if my original notion is serviceably clear, I discover the words I chose to convey it haven't done the job at all, and that it's my fault in not having the imagination to foresee how differently they could be interpreted by different readers. But though our subject is "art", our discussion should not be -- except minimally when it can without harm tickle and stir our thinking. We'll never perfectly clear, but with dilience and effort we can lift some of our thinking and lingo from the hopeless into the serviceable. ************** Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com! (http://www.tourtracker.com?NCID=aolmus00050000000112)
