critical artist as obituarial character

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Geoffrey H. Hartman died March 14. Notice is pieced together promptly. Literary thinking itself is concealed by imperative of casual reading. Otherwise, as Margalit Fox quotes Denis Donoghue, late 1980, “I wonder would that be worth the labor of understanding it?” Donoghue might better have added some punctuation: “I wonder: ‘Would that be worth the labor of understanding it?’.”

I want to dwell with the textuality of the obituary. Is that unfair?

But I don’t have time now. The obituary appeared March 20. This is a revised version of the March 20 note which goes far enough to show how challenging a furthering can become.

winter 2016

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March 20:

Last night (last night of winter, strictly speaking—though feeling spring), I was enthralled by all two hours of Terrence Malick’s latest cinepoem, “Knight of Cups,” which is so L.A., even in its precious meditativeness (which is a deliberate aspect of being in episodity). The narrative—and it is a narrative—isn’t philosophical, but far more than an autobio-graphical sequel to “Tree of Life”; and more than a visually surreal critique of hyper-mobile, simulacral, and attention-deficited bacchanalian urbanity. It’s a pensive and innerworldly chance for some leading LAers to confront their own kind: Think—transcended by the cinematic artistry (which is masterfully “spontaneous”), re: being and time in LaLa Land.

Through sensation, one finds affection, thereby gains connection for there being balance, love, clarity, joy, hope. Herewith, there’s time to begin.

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the role of Considerations with his ways

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I don’t want to give more attention to paranoid silliness about Heidegger’s animus toward German ideology, but I can’t resist noting that F.-W. von Herrmann’s authoritative view of Heidegger’s black notebooks concurs with my own.

I’ll eventually provide more detail—within proper context, i.e., in light of specific discussion of Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy. But I don’t plan to do that this season. The important point, though, is clearly asserted by von Herrmann.

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a scale of faculties

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How strange is it that ‘faculty’ “begins” (medievally—looking at an Unabridged definition etymologically) as denotation of an academic profession, then becomes a notion of a priori mental capability, gets outmoded for that, yet continues to hybridize as senses of intellectual power, as if mind as such reflects academic professionism? Or the university expresses the horizon of mental ability (mentability)?

cultivating branches

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white space
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That causes me to recall the last page of Henry Miller’s Big Sur
and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, which has a black-line rectangle containing white space. Inside is only the sentence “This is a Kandinsky.”

one’s resistance to dwelling with Heidegger

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When I began reading Peter Trawny’s book, Heidegger and the Myth of a Jewish World Conspiracy, I already knew (for nearly two years) that his case was invalid. But I’m surprised by how invalid his case is. I finished reading the book (carefully!) because Heidegger’s Considerations (notebooks from 1931-38), will be available in English soon, and I wanted to be sure I was perceiving Trawny’a case about the notebooks fully.

autumn 2015

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December 7:

I felt this morning so involved with developmental work that writing briefly here would be only about honoring an update promise. “I have so much to say that I have nothing to say.” So, the genuine thing to do is to not write here until I have something of worthwhile length to link from.

I easily get visions of long postings that morph into themes that become part of The Thing that is evolving. Its themology is a genesis, a themogeny. Isn’t that cute?