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Subject:
From:
Peter Bi <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
- Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 25 Sep 2001 16:16:26 -0700
Content-Type:
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Since we are here talking about TeX and Springer-Verlag, please let me
mention the famous Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics. In textbook, it
is explained as a rule that one can't measure a particle's position and
velocity at the same time. It also brings strange logics to our thinking.
For example, if one observed a particle at specific space, could one
logically conclude that this particle did EXIST at that position just before
the observation ?  Many physicists, including most of the founders of
quantum physics, may say no. A particle has a realty ONLY IF a human being
observed it, touched it or made an experiment to detect it.

Maybe we can view the Cantos as a quantum system. If a reader wants a
"thing", he/she can go to Cantos and observe it.  It doesn't matter which
way to express it as fas as the reader can get it. Actually we may assume
that Pound thinks the best way to experss "big things", in his limited life
time, was to construct a frame letting readers to find the "things"
themselves. BTW, Zen can't be expressed by human languages.


Peter Bi

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Romano" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 4:35 AM
Subject: Re: Hell is all right angles (Indentation in the Cantos (was One
week only))


> Gavin,
> What evidence do you have to show that the way the Cantos appear on the
> page reflects Pound's intentions, and is not merely a compromise he was
> willing to make given the nature of the publishing industry? (You may want
> to read or reread _ABC of Reading_.) One could make valid aesthetic
> arguments for or against a long unbroken line; one must take care not to
> raise mere publishing convention to the level of aesthetic authority.
> Calling me a philistine for raising the issue doesn't advance the
> discussion or support your position.
> Tim Romano
>
> At 03:26 AM 9/26/01 -0700, Gavin Francis wrote:
> >And while we're at it why not clean up some of those smerary lines in
some of
> >Matisse's intaglii, soften some of those sharp corners in Picasso and
Braque,
> >and best of all, get rid of some of those pesky Chinese ideograms in the
> >Cantos
> >that nobody can understand anyway--because let's face it--there's just
nothing
> >like a good solid rectangular block of nice, tightly kerned good old
> >Times-Roman. I'm certain that's what Pound had in mind.
> >
> >And you're right--you should let sleeping logs die--you posited this same
> >argument a year or so ago. And people who still use Tex are still
blockheads.
> >
> >Gavin
> >
> >Tim Romano wrote:
> >
> > > Tim,
> > > Any reason why you eschewed CSS?  One could wrap each line-segment in
a
> > > <div> and specify the indentations in style, using custom classes:
> > >
> > > .in1 {
> > > text-indent: 6em;
> > > }
> > >
> > > .in2 {
> > > text-indent: 9em;
> > > }
> > >
> > > That would get rid of the phalanx of non-breaking spaces.
> > >
> > > On a literary note: I'm not yet convinced that the indentations are
> > > actually called for. They seem to be Pound's concession to the
original
> > > typesetters, given the narrowness of the page he could reasonably
expect a
> > > publisher to offer, a concession that he might not have made had the
page
> > > widths been more ample. Inasmuch as the HTML "page" is like an opened
book
> > > that has no binding crease, HTML offers twice the page-width, in a
manner
> > > of speaking. Under modern circumstances, Pound might like to see his
lines
> > > unbroken on the virtual page.
> > >
> > > We took this subject up briefly a few months ago, and I'd like to hear
more
> > > from those who disagree with me on this.
> > >
> > > Tim Romano
> > >
> > > At 07:55 PM 9/23/01 -0700, Tim Bray wrote:
> > > >I have a mouldy old website that I haven't maintained in years,
> > > >but it has a scrapbook thingie that rolls interesting
> > > >quotations and meta-quotations through once every week.  This
> > > >week there's a piece of Canto CV featuring a fairly aggressive
> > > >attempt to get the indentation right in HTML.  Go to
> > > >http://www.textuality.com/ and hit the "Worth reading" link.
> > > >  -Tim
>

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