Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 14:06:12 -0400
From: dhiggins-AT-mhv.net (Dick Higgins)
Subject: Re: How's your Weltanschauung hanging?



>Ziet Giest -- the spirit or style of a is not the product of anyone area of
>production.

Does ZEITGEIST come from Herder in 1769? Or did he find "Zeitgeist"
somewhere else? Did Matthew Arnold bring it into English via Heine? Or was
it Hichens in 1884 in MACMILLANS MAG?

The interplay between the language and the zeitgeist is a big part of what
gives poetry its meaning and its inherent weltanschauung, as distinct, say,
>from how it works in informational subjects. This is, for me, the rationale
for a hermeneutic approach to poetry and especially to the newer arts, from
Fluxus to geometric abstraction to post-Language poetry to concrete and
poesia visiva . It is also where a Roland Barthe breaks down-he can never
quite get beyond the overt meaning of a text, clever though he may be with
that. Thus is failure to appreciate work in which style is a part of the
meaning of a work, e.g., Erik Satie in music or Gertrude Stein in
literature.

Dick Higgins

Dick Higgins
-------------------------------------
Curious about my paintings? See my show on the Gallery pages of the Left
Hand Books site-<http://www.lefthandbooks.com/lhb>. You can see "Double
John," a portrait of Cage, and three others. You can order books or buy the
paintings if you feel so inclined. And it's not the stuff you'll find in
galleries or book superstores.






     --- from list avant-garde-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---