Email me at jmayhew at ku dot edu
"The very existence of poetry should make us laugh. What is it all about? What is it for?"
--Kenneth Koch
“El subtítulo ‘Modelo para armar’ podría llevar a creer que las
diferentes partes del relato, separadas por blancos, se proponen como piezas permutables.”
19 jul 2007
I basically can't stand earnestness.
13 comentarios:
Anónimo
dijo...
Which is odd because you come off as a pretty earnest guy.
Well, I suppose everyone is entitled to their own definitions and has the right to elevate the particular connotations they prefer. Earnestness doesn't have to be an epithet.
For example, your post about Josh Corey's discussion of ethics and aesthetics is pretty earnest. No one wants to be earnest all the time. Maybe the problem is less earnestness than monotone/monotony.
One serious problem with earnestness is that people are so often earnestly wrong. Can it be a coincidence that the more earnest a statement is, the more likely it is to be wrong?
Jonathan --- My guess is that you interpret seriousness as earnestness in a person who is either not as smart as you, or who has a different sense of humor than you.
13 comentarios:
Which is odd because you come off as a pretty earnest guy.
If I were earnest, then claiming not to be would be ironic, hence a sign of lack of earnestness.
Earnestness is not the same as seriousness. Earnestness is a kind of tone-deafness about when to be serious and when not to be.
Didn't Oscar Wilde show how important it is to be earnest?
Well, I suppose everyone is entitled to their own definitions and has the right to elevate the particular connotations they prefer. Earnestness doesn't have to be an epithet.
For example, your post about Josh Corey's discussion of ethics and aesthetics is pretty earnest. No one wants to be earnest all the time. Maybe the problem is less earnestness than monotone/monotony.
Maybe some explanation of why you don't like it is in order.
Well Jonathan,
If you were 27 years old, I'd understand/believe this. But you're not and I don't.
I don't like it any more than 20 years ago when I was 27. Irony isn't the province of the young.
Perhaps irony SHOULD be the province of the young. Or mostly, anyway.
What is this, "sober youth reproaching reckless middle age"?
Is it possible to say with all due earnestness that one hates earnestness?
Sounds a bit like the Cretan liar paradox.
One serious problem with earnestness is that people are so often earnestly wrong. Can it be a coincidence that the more earnest a statement is, the more likely it is to be wrong?
Jonathan --- My guess is that you interpret seriousness as earnestness in a person who is either not as smart as you, or who has a different sense of humor than you.
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