4 the settings were reflections

MP3:THE SETTINGS WERE REFLECTIONS

Writing about what others have said is irrelevant and writing about one's own experiences is uninteresting. What, then, is the purpose of writing anything at all? Unfortunately, I do not have some ideology, some moral manifesto waiting in the wings, ready to seize this fortuitous moment in order to reveal itself.

There is, for me at least, a very simple pleasure that arises out the concentration writing requires. A sense of having one's back up against an Archimedian point that is the search for the right words. We may be able to concoct some psychological explanation, some analysis for how this comes about: why it is that writing, or talking for that matter, is something that people take pleasure in...But elaborating the concepts for some such theory of psychology is no small task. Defining notions such as "pleasure" and "communication" requires asking some quite paralyzing questions about a profoundly evasive labyrinth of presuppositions.

Yet, of all the things there are to be done in the world, how is writing something that merits one's time? Perhaps to begin with a more specific question: Which sorts of topics are preferable to write about? Almost certainly, we must look to write something that we ourselves would like to read. Something that presents our own curiosities and intuitions in the form of words, or perhaps, presents words that express thoughts that oppose and undermine our intuitions, the better to understand their failings.

Some subsequent points of departure will consist in excerpts from the critical works of Octavio Paz. In my ongoing attempt to become more familiar with Spanish, the clarity of his prose has been of incomparable assistance. My debt is such that I owe many of his essays much more detailed praise... perhaps that will be forthcoming. But for now:

....................Dadá fracasó porque creyó que la derrota del lengua seria el triunfo del poeta el surrealismo afirmó la supremacia de lenguaje sobre el poeta . Toca a los poetas jovenes borrar la distinción entre creador y lector: descubre el punto de encuentró entre el que habla y el que oye. Eso punto es el centro del lenguaje no es el diálogo: el yo y el tú, ni el yo reduplicao, sino el monológo plural- la incoherencia original- la otra coherencia. La profecia de Lautréamont: la poesia será hecho por todos.

...................."Dada was a failure because it believed that the destruction of language would be the triumph of the poet. Surrealism affirmed the supremacy of language over the poet. The young poets were moved to erase the distinction between writer and reader; to discover the point of encounter between the one who speaks and the one who is heard. This point is the center of language: it is not dialogue, the I and the you, neither is it the I multiplied, rather, it is a plural monologue- the original incoherence, the other coherence. The prophecy of Lautreamont: that poetry will be made by everyone." (octavio paz, corriente alterna, siglo veintuno, p. 73) translation mine

Some very broad gestures in such a short paragraph. Most of Paz' writing is more exacting. This was taken from a unrepresentative chapter: a foray into maxims and epigrams...Helpful however, as an introductory allusion to several ideas that demand more explicit scrutiny: an author, an audience, language, poetry, participation in language, points of encounter, the resolutions of the Surrealists and the ideals and difficulties which gave rise to them.

From asking: "what is the purpose of writing anything at all?" we have wandered away into quoting an appraisal of surrealism by Octavio Paz. What is the association between these this two ideas? Some clarity, perhaps, by reviewing the surrealists' own definition of their endeavors?

...................."Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life." (first manifesto)

"...Solving all the principal problems of life." Ambitious words indeed!