In The Prime of Miss Jean Brody, a character, sister Helena of the
Transfiguration, is said to have written a novel, The Transfiguration of
the Commonplace. Arthur Danto, upon reading TPOMJB, was so taken by this
title, that he resolved to use it as his own should he ever write a book
that it would fit. As a courtesy, he wrote to Muriel Spark, and asked if
he might use the title, and what she thought the it meant. She said
Danto was free to use it, and that she thought it characterized her own
conception of art very well.
Danto writes: 'The events in the artworld which provoked the
philosophical reflections in this book were in fact just that:
transfigurations of the commonplace, banalities made art. [Danto, The
Transfiguration of the Commonplace: Harvard, 1981]
Robert Paul Reed College
The Prime of Miss Jean Brody. There you go.
Robert Paul
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