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Old 23-Aug-2004   #9
Carl_Bergstrom
Old Mister Crow
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Join Date: May-2002
Location: Seattle, WA.
Country: USA
Posts: 3,197
Quote:
Originally posted by pootsie

Perhaps bonsai can be used as "a neotraditional reaction to, and thus doubly-ironic inversion of, the ironic modernist's creative rejection of bogus values, through a reassertion of a sincere and value-laden paradigm."


Damn, Pootsie! Have you read Wallace's essay too? This is more or less what Wallace is proposing as the artistic escape from the barrenness of irony (which he claims is great in a cultural emergency but ultimately unfulfilling when it becomes the dominant expressive theme over the course of several decades). Wallace suggests that we'll need artistic risk-takers, but in this case, that the risk will be the risk of being rejected as naive or sentimental for one's affirmation of sincere and genuine values.

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Interesting comments about irony and self-centeredness. I think you may be on to something there. Thanks!

Best regards,
Carl
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