Monday, January 02, 2006

Saint-Andre on Art's Conceptual Nature

Peter Saint-Andre has posted a very interesting essay on Ayn Rand's esthetics. He says it was originally intended for the Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, but an anonymous reader for the journal wanted him to re-work it, and he says he can't muster the energy to do that, so he's just posting it on the net.

One good point he underlines is that art, originally, was deeply intertwined with communal ceremonies that were vital to tribal life.

"Eventually, specialized art forms arose from these beginnings. In the modern West, we are accustomed to seeing these art forms as merely aesthetic and as highly personal, even subjective. By contrast, Ayn Rand sees art as of critical importance to human life. In large measure, Rand personalizes what Dissanayake has eludicated, for she sees art as crucial to one's own internal cohesion..."

Maybe that's why I can feel so disrupted when someone plays music I hate:

It offers interference
To my internal coherence.

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