finished Wyndham Lewis's BLAST yesterday. still have no idea what Vorticism is. some of the things i do know about Vorticism don't really point me towards anything useful. i know that Vorticism eschews the romanticism of the past (Impressionism) as much as what Lewis saw as the romanticism of the future (Futurism) ("[Futurism] an accelerated form of Impressionism"-p. 158). you'd think this would point to "the present" as being primary to the Vorticists; e.g., "the new vortex plunges to the heart of the Present" and "with our Vortex the Present is the only active thing." ah yes now i'm starting to get it...but then almost immediately from the same page (p. 147) "there is no Present—there is Past and Future, and there is Art" and "this impure Present our Vortex despises and ignores"...okay...so what the EF? the Future is romantic and fetishized, the Past is romantic and fallacious and the Present is impure and negated. but the present is also "Art" and thus viola, Vorticism! and what the hell am i supposed to make of that? i guess i'm just not at all clear on how Lewis is defining the Present/Art. and BLAST is 160 pages. i feel like i should be a little closer to understanding what the hell Vorticism is all about after 160 pages. any comments would be appreciated. thanks.
3 comments:
Hi John,
I think Vorticism was the New Brutalism of the early 20th-century. A bunch of friends in happy geographical proximity, then a cooked-up name, then a couple inspired promoters to lay on a handful of events for for the public, then oblivion.
Which made the bunch of friends and their proximity no less real or important for that. It's just, the people who were in it--and the War that impelled them to name themselves--outstrips in the end the so-called program. Shades of the "f"-word? Though those f-kids, they've been good on the whole about never going public with a program ... :)
r.,
you're cracking me up. apropos of silliman's blog today "actualism?"...though i can't pretend to know much about actualism...i think anselm hollo (my thesis advisor) was part of that group for a minute. the totally misdirected SPD hate is interesting though. kind of loving that people think were pimping the Life Of Crime book rather than just selling it...people do realize what it is that SPD does don't they? my own two cents...i think the Life Of Crime book is awesome, started reading it last week while as i was finishing up the Grand Piano 9...a really fun syncretic experience. i highly recommend trying it...
rod you're killing me.
viva BOTH BOTH''icism!!!
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