[lit-ideas] It is worth a story ...
- From: cblists@xxxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 07:42:51 +0200
On 12-Jun-12, at 12:36 AM, David Ritchie wrote:
... Should someone, I wonder, begin a petition drive to sponsor a
memorial to the Ignorant of History? They too must have had
virtues, grandmothers, cute children. ... [Entertaining cat and
ignorant neighbour story follows.]
Cf.: "Writer Thomas Pynchon articulated about the scope and structure
of one's ignorance: 'Ignorance is not just a blank space on a person's
mental map. It has contours and coherence, and for all I know rules of
operation as well. So as a corollary to [the advice of] writing about
what we know, maybe we should add getting familiar with our ignorance,
and the possibilities therein for writing a good story.'"
I'm certainly not an uncritical fan of Wikipedia (from which the above
quotation originates), but do find it on occasion both useful and
entertaining. That Wikipedia entry for 'ignorance' also gives me as a
synonym 'witlessness' (which I would dispute); the link to
'witlessness', however, gives me the anagram 'witnessless', which,
imho, connects with 'ignorance' in interesting ways.
The philosopher Wittgenstein makes much of a connexion between
language use and 'form[s] of life' - participants in a life informed
by [direct] witness will certainly play a/the 'language game' in a
manner different from those who are 'witnessless'.
A favourite example (taken from one of William Golding's volumes - I
forget exactly which - in his 'To the Ends of the Earth' trilogy):
setback.
I urge listmembers who are ignorant of these of Golding's works to
remain so no longer - and promise them (unless they prove to be
irredeemable ignoramuses) that, after experiencing Golding bearing
eloquent witness to the nautical origins - and full scope - of this
term, they will use it lightly no longer.
Chris Bruce,
ever conscious of the fire down below originating
in his attempts to re-seat one of *his* masts,
in harbour in Kiel, Germany
P.S. I see (on Wikipedia) that Golding's _Rites of Passage_ (the first
volume of the aforementioned trilogy) won the Booker Prize over
Anthony Burgess's _Earthly Powers_ in 1980. This early in the morning
I can think of no higher recommendation for _RoP_.
-cb.
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- References:
- [lit-ideas] Grice on the alethic
- [lit-ideas] Re: Grice on the alethic
- [lit-ideas] It is worth a theorem, which is not the p minimal adequacy, since as it is, it is inconsistent. Hence Alfred Tajtelbaum, known to the ignorant of history as "tarski" proved that there exists a hierarchy such that the minimal adequacy is satisfied. That is in the "concept of truth in L" by the way studying helps.
- [lit-ideas] Re: It is worth a theorem, which is not the p minimal adequacy, since as it is, it is inconsistent. Hence Alfred Tajtelbaum, known to the ignorant of history as "tarski" proved that there exists a hierarchy such that the minimal adequacy is satisfied. That is in the "concept of truth in L" by the way studying helps.
- [lit-ideas] Re: It is worth a theorem, which is not the p minimal adequacy, since as it is, it is inconsistent. Hence Alfred Tajtelbaum, known to the ignorant of history as "tarski" proved that there exists a hierarchy such that the minimal adequacy is satisfied. That is in the "concept of truth in L" by the way studying helps.
Other related posts:
