Blogging Around

In response to Anna, on literary figures (and people in general) obsessing over the insignificant details of life, in particular The Manager, from "Heart of Darkness" :

Anna, although I agree with you on your take on the over-caring on the mundane details of life, I would have to disagree on its application to literature. I would argue that you are ~supposed~ to feel frustrated with The Manager on his small mindedness. That you aren't supposed to identify him, but see him in the way that you do, with a sense of almost disgust. In "the Little Prince", the little prince visits multiple planets on the way to Earth. On each of these lives an adult who each do a similar over-caring over tedious insignificant things.

In response to Patrick, on drum solos, and music as a language, with a structure to be followed and expanded upon:

You are absolutely right. For music, it would be keeping in time, for piano in particular (which is what I play), there would also be sticking to a chord progression as well. In art, there are the principles and elements of design (unity and movement, to name a few). Writing has the rules of language. All of these are languages though. All art forms have three qualities that are expressed to the receiving end: form, emotion, and thought. Music appeals first and foremost to emotion, visual arts to form, and writing to thought. But the rules that are made for each of these languages, are made to be broken. Once you know the rules, (and you do HAVE to know the rules first) you can experiment and create the bold and the avant garde. Oh, and that's a great drum solo by the way.