[lit-ideas] Re: Death of a Thinker

  • From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 21:07:45 -0500 (GMT-05:00)

In all seriousness,  drawing one's own lines outside the bounds of decency or 
societal restraints, otherwise known as abandoning a family, seems a 
prerequisite for greatness as well as for being true to one's dreams; 
responsibility seems the path to mediocrity (a house, a paycheck, playing with 
the kids, etc.).  Today a man like Shakespeare who abandons his family for his 
career would be considered a lowlife.  On the other hand, rappers and many 
others do it all the time and are quite the celebrities.  Do our changing 
standards for mainstream behavior mean that greatness is a thing of the past, 
except for those willing to sacrifice their children? 

I think complicating matters is that greatness and happiness are not always 
synonymous.  Is it possible that Willy could have found his bliss in his family 
instead of his job?   I suspect it would have been more satisfying in the long 
run.  I have heard Joseph Campbell say life is about following one's bliss.  I 
still think that is what life is about, but the sentence needs some definitions 
I think.  


Andy Amago





-----Original Message-----
From: William Ball <ballnw@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Feb 15, 2005 11:45 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Death of a Thinker

We draw no lines. The artist does.

Could have been someone like J. J. Rousseau who abandoned his family and
wrote "Emile, ou lEducation," then helped launch a literary movement
called Romanticism.

William Ball
Norma Ball=20


> -----Original Message-----
> From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-
> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Andy Amago
> Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 10:30 AM
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Death of a Thinker
>=20
> I agree completely.  I wonder, though.  Shakespeare followed his
> dream, as did other writers and people of his day and other days.  To
do
> that he had to abandon his wife and young children and head for
> London to be a playwrite.  We are richer for his self-centeredness and
> abrogation of responsibility, but his children suffered.  Where does
one
> draw the line?
>=20
>=20
> Andy Amago
>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
> -----Original Message-----
> From: William Ball <ballnw@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Feb 15, 2005 10:02 AM
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Death of a Thinker
>=20
> Willy took the road well worn, not "The Road Not Taken". He chose
> the
> worn road that leads to nowhere, the road of any salesman, or safe job
> in the civil service. He should have gone to Alaska to mine for gold.
He
> should have made flutes, like the one we hear in the play, he should
> have had the courage to follow his dreams.
>=20
> Lines: Willy, "The woods are burning I tell you."  Willy's wife at
> graveside, "Attention must be paid to this man."=3D20
>=20
> See the production with Lee J. Cobb as Willy. It's on tape, I think.
> Cobb played it on Broadway in 1949,
>=20
> We all have some or all of Willy in us. That's what scares hell out of
> us.
>=20
> And I tell you right now, the woods are burning.
>=20
>=20
> Bill Ball
>=20
> P. S. The play has very little to do with communism/capitalism. It's
> about all us low men, the tragedy of the common man because he's so
> common.

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