May 1, 2003

  • I'm so happy!  I aced my Advanced Comp midterm!   I did particularly well on the essay section.  One of the questions concerned originality, from the first lecture of the quarter.   No earthly creation, whether an invention or piece of writing or work of art, is original, since all human beings get their ideas secondhand, if not from another person, book, or work, then from NATURE, which is God's masterpiece.   Take art, for instance, the professor reasoned.  Art is a talent notoriously dependent on copying--not only one's ability to duplicate others' work, but one's own, as you need many pieces to reap a profit.   Anyone can be a great artist, since art is purely a matter of technique, whether handed down culturally, taught by a great master, or the current trend.   Often the technique is not so much manual dexterity and a good eye, but special equipment, such as the camera obscura employed by Johanne Vermeer and other great masters to achieve perfect drawing and perspective.  All one needs is the motivation, time, and money to perfect the technique, and viola, ART.   Which is why most famous artists have patrons, and tend to be clustered in families or exclusive groups like expatriots.   No innate gift is really required. 


    Our question was:  If there is no such thing as originality, and human experience tends to be universal (at least within the culture where the work is appreciated), what quality renders a particular work a classic, to be treasured centuries beyond its first appearance in history?   It was the fierce competitiveness I see here, with bloggers resorting to advertising themselves under anonymous user names (if you haven't noticed the same elite group of writers continually listed as fab, you aren't reading anything), and D.J.'s determined effort to outblog me on my own topics, that gave me the answer.   The key must be emotion.   Anyone can be witty and articulate, but not anyone can touch our hearts.  It is emotion, particularly love, that breathes life into a work.   Love is our highest expression and closest to God, the creator of all things.  The deeper we love, the more like God, and thus the more original we become.   When nobody can decide who's story it is, look for the emotion.   She who actually experienced the event is more likely to show feelings about it.