noteriety

[ethan at magicnet.net]

>Maybe artists who deliberately lie about themselves are trying to tell us
>something about factoring intentionality into our response to their work?  My
>own instincts lean otherwise from those you express in your post. Though I
>acknowledge that there are some artists about whom some sort of bio. info. is
>important to understanding their work (Nabokov and the idea of exile, for
>instance), I just think the whole notion of "intention" assumes a kind
>of--presence--that is mot warrantable.  We are assuming that artists
>are--present--to their own work in ways that seem contradicted by the many
>explicit statements of artistic intention which are hokum, whether
>deliberately foisted by tricky artists, or innocently foisted by misguided
>ones.  Somebody once read me a very funny quote about Ruskin's art criticism
>in which the commentato rnotes that the best thing about Ruskin's art
>criticism is that he, literally, often--does not know what he is talking
>about--that seems to me to be true of many artists, and not necessarily
>detrimental to their work.
>
>
>john m
My comment about knowing an artist's intention is based on my study of Jazz
history, not literature, so I would have to think a little about really
applying it to a novel, but, in the case of Jazz history, I believe that a
true understanding of Jazz is not possible without also a knowledge of the
Afrian American experience.  A knowledge about the individual artist may be
useful, but I guess what really matters is a knowledge of the general
populace (African Americans, particularly musicians in this case).  To me,
what makes Charlie Parker really great is not just his playing (and his
playing is truely awe inspiring) but looking at his playing in the context
of a reaction to white America.  Amiri Baraka discusses this in some
article, I can't remember wgich one, but he is addressing noted Jazz critic
Leonard Feather.  Now, as for what context Pynchon is writing in, I have
not done enough research in this area of history or literature, but I am
sure that knowledge in this area could only heighten one's enjoyment and
understanding of Pynchon's works.
                                                                Ethan