Friday, August 18, 2006
"What Good Are The Arts?"
. . . is the title of a new book by John Carey. Excerpt:
A work of art is anything that anyone has ever considered a work of art, though it may be a work of art only for that one person. What matters is the way we look at the thing, the way we engage with it. Think of the concentrated elegance surrounding the Japanese tea ceremony. But think too of the similarly intense focus and appreciation of details that fans bring to their discussions of a daily soap opera or an episode of "Lost."
A work of art is anything that anyone has ever considered a work of art, though it may be a work of art only for that one person. What matters is the way we look at the thing, the way we engage with it. Think of the concentrated elegance surrounding the Japanese tea ceremony. But think too of the similarly intense focus and appreciation of details that fans bring to their discussions of a daily soap opera or an episode of "Lost."
