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12 ago 2005

MORE OBVIEDADES

What's obvious to one person might not be obvious to another.

"Of course" only introduces a non-obvious statement. It is a way of disguising the obvious as the non-obvious.

Even when we're not fooled by something totally fallacious, and when we reject it outright, we might still end up being fooled by it, simply by accepting the terms that it presupposes.

Sarah Manguso is not a radically avant-garde poet.

A review copy does not have the same value as a copy purchased. I can resent its presence in my house, even though I would never give it away or sell it.

Ezra Pound couldn't speak Chinese. That is a fact but stating the fact makes it into an opinion. That is true of all facts. No statement of a fact is simply a fact: it becomes a speech act. Stating the obvious is an agressive gesture.

An exaggeration can be truer than an accurate statement, because what the statement is about is the speaker, not the facts of the case. It is irritating when someone corrects an exaggeration, because the corrector has not correctly discerned the rhetoric of the statement.

Everything used a mark of superiority is by definition spurious. "I'm better than you because I'm not a snob." That's just as spurious as any other.

5 comentarios:

  1. Why would Sarah Manguso be considered avant-garde, much less radically so? Is she considered that way by some?

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  2. No, that's the point. It's "obvious" she's not. But why would anyone way that? It implies that someone might think otherwise.

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  3. Oh, it just seemed kind of odd to me. And why is it everything you post is coming up doubled?

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  4. I meant "say" that. My computer was slow so I posted it again without realizing it. Duplications have been removed.

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  5. And I see Jordan Davis disagrees with me about Sarah. That means my statement has become meaningful.

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