Therefore nature, art, sensation, emotion. Chocolate. Links from friends.
“The talent
of composition is very dangerous, — the striking out the heart of
life at a blow, as the Indian takes off a scalp” [Thoreau]
 |
| Remy de Gourmont [pic courtesy of le tiers livre] |
from Ezra Pound’s “De Gourmont: A Distinction” in The Little Review, Vol. V, Feb-Mar, 1919:
De Gourmont
was an artist of the nude. He was an intelligence almost more than an
artist . . . He is a poet, more by possessing a certain quality of
mind than by virtue of having written fine poems . . .
He was
intensely aware of the differences of emotional timbre; and as a
man’s message is precisely his façon de voir
[way of seeing],
modality of apperception, this particular awareness was his
“message.” . . .
He does not
grant the duality of body and soul. . . . “My words are the
unspoken words of my body.” . . .
sex
is not a monstrosity . . . Sex,
in so far as it is not a purely physiological reproductive
mechanism lies in the domain of aesthetics, the junction of tactile
and magnetic senses; as some people have accurate ears both for
rhythm and for pitch, and as some are tone deaf, some impervious to
rhythmic subtlety and variety, so in this other field of the senses
some desire the trivial, some the processional, the stately, the
master-work. . . .
De
Gourmont is interested in hardly anything save emotions, and the
ideas that will go into them, or take life in emotional application.
. . .
“La
virginite n'est pas une vertu, c'est un etat; c'est une sous-division
des couleurs.” [Virginity isn’t a virtue, it’s a state;
it’s a subset of colors] . . .
Gourmont's
essays . . . [t]aken together . . . are a portrait of the civilized
mind. I incline to think them the best portrait available, the best
record that is of the civilized mind from 1885-1915. Gourmont arouses
the senses of the imagination, preparing the mind for receptivities.
His wisdom, if not of the senses, is at any rate via the senses. . .
.
“Le caractère
fondamental du citoyen est donc le dévouement, la résignation et la
stupidité; il exerce principalement ces qualités selon trois
fonctions physiologiques, comme animal reproducteur, comme animal
électoral, comme animal contribuable.” [The citizen’s
fundamental character is devotion, resignation and stupidity; he
practices these qualities principally in three physiological
functions, as an animal breeding, as an animal voting, as an animal
being taxed.] . . .
Christianity
lends itself to fanaticism. Barbarian ethics proceed by general
taboos. The relation of two individuals in relation is so complex
that no third person can pass judgment upon it.
 |
| William Carlos Williams, self portrait, 1914 [pic courtesy of University at Buffalo] |
from William Carlos Williams's "The Doctor" in The Little Review, Vol. V, Feb-Mar, 1919:
Once
I came near drowning. I dived from a row-boat during a storm
to recover my oars which I had lost, having “caught a crab.” I
had light clothes on. I am not a very strong swimmer. I recovered one
of the oars but the wind carried my boat away faster than I could
follow. The waves were high. I swam as hard as I could until out of
breath. My clothes began to drag. I tried to remove my shoes. I
couldn't. I swallowed some water. I thought I was done for when there
crossed my mind these sentences: So this is the end? What a waste of
life to die so stupidly.
The
thought was singularly emotionless, simply a clear vision of the
situation. So much was this so that I was instantly sobered. My
action taking on at once the quality of the thought, tucking the one
oar under my left arm I swam quietly along hoping someone would see
the empty boat and come out for me, which a man did. My courage, if
you will, turned upon the color of my thought.
Fascinating to read commentary by these folks at that time, in journal form. What a gem.
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