As I started reading this article, the concept that stood out to me the most and in an immediate way, was this concept of the "algebraic" method. From what I understood, this term refers to the most important aspects of an issue (can really be any issue) and emphasizes that we tend to focus on what we consider to be the "main characteristics" of that issue. To try to put this into a way I would understand the reading better, I immediately thought of my cellphone and what I use it for. These days with technology and phones you can basically do anything, but none of that really matters to me because I basically just use my phone to communicate with my family back home; hence, this is the important function of the phone to me. And this is what Shklovsky is also stating, we only see or get what we want out of certain situations and "fail to hear the prose" because we're only focused on what we consider important.
With this, we go into the meaning of the "purpose of art" only to re-emphasize this author's point of view. "The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known." The "perceived" in this definition is the word that stands out to me the most because it is what expresses art and everything that the "object" entails. This object, according to Viktor Shklovsky, is not important because its merely just the work of art; but the work of art can be meaningless if there is no one to interpret its meaning for themselves. For this reason, I think that the importance of art, in accordance with this reading, lies in the recipients perception of the piece, in which ever shape or form they see the art. Although a phone might not be the right comparison to art, if my mom and sister weren't on the other side of the phone call, the phone (the object) would have no purpose for me. And the same goes for art which just made me think of the phrase "beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder", art like theory and literature is up for your own interpretation.
I like the comparison to the cell phone, that helps me understand it better.
ReplyDeleteMonica took my comment! =p Yeah, I liked the analogy as well. I liked how you linked the ideas using a "cellphone," so to speak, and it made me think "Cynthia is using "the cellphone" in another way and not in the conventional way! =O" (to make a point about what you read). And, another thing that made me think was something that you said at the end, that theory is up for interpretation...I still don't know what to say about it, but I'll keep thinking =)
ReplyDelete