For an Orthodox Christians, there’s a lot in Virginia Postrel’s book The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce. Culture. and Consciousness by Postrel. Virginia I. ( 2004 ) Paperback that generates an “aha.” From the ornately carved caves of the seventh-century Cappadocian hermits to the spectacular mosaics of Constantinople or Ravenna, Christians have shown the need to express beauty in their worship from the beginning. Postrel shows this need within the … [Read more...]
Substance of Style III
I'm heading south for a week, and when I get back I expect to have finished reading The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce. Culture. and Consciousness by Postrel. Virginia I. ( 2004 ) Paperback and have begun McKee's Story. In the meantime, there's packing and remembering all the stuff I don't want to forget, and getting to the plane on time, so this site may not be updated tomorrow. After that, it depends on whether I have Web access where I'm going. If I … [Read more...]
The Substance of Style II
More about The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce. Culture. and Consciousness by Postrel. Virginia I. ( 2004 ) Paperback. I'm still not finished with the book so this constitutes a discussion with an argument in progress. That is, I don't know where Postrel is going, but I'm thinking about it here as I go down her road with her. I believe that Beauty is a transcendant characteristic of God--something that is always true, that its being a characteristic of … [Read more...]
The Social Dimension of Literature
I love audio books. It's another place where technology has brought us closer to our roots, and those roots offer much nourishment. Once upon a time, literature was stories, and stories were oral (and aural). People gathered with the clan to hear the clan's history, its days of glory, how we got to be where we are. And then there were books, but books were hand-written, unique, rare and precious, and so someone would read the book to the others. Later, the books were mass produced, but Jane … [Read more...]
The Cathedral vs. the Book
I enjoy bloggers with humor, who find profundity in daily events, who read the ingredients on the Can 'O' Rhetoric that is served up on every side. Especially good at this is James Lileks. He finds meaning in the great icons—architecture, publishing, advertising, commercial symbolism—they tell about us. One of the most fascinating passages I ever read was in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in which the villain (whose name escapes me) discusses the difference between the Cathedral and the Book. … [Read more...]