"consider the Victory of Samothrace and the Taj of Agra. The man who carved
the one and the man who designed the other may either or both of them have
looked like an ape, or like two apes respectively. They may have looked like
other apelike or swinelike men. We have the Victory and the Taj to witness
that there was something within them differing from the contents of apes and
of other swinelike men. Thus we learn that humanity is a species or genus of
animals capable of a variation that will produce the desire for a Taj or a
Victory, and moreover capable of effecting that Taj or Victory in stone. We
know from other testimony of the arts and from ourselves that the desire
often overshoots the power of efficient presentation; we therefore conclude
that other members of the race may have desired to effect a Taj or a
Victory. We even suppose that men have desired to effect more beautiful
things although few of us are capable of forming any precise mental image of
things, in their particular way, more beautiful than this statue or this
building. So difficult is this that no one has yet been able to effect a
restoration for the missing head of the Victory. At least no one has done so
in stone, so far as I know. Doubtless many people have stood opposite the
statue and made such heads in their imagination. (ibid., p. 44)"
- Ezra Pound, ("The Collexted Essays of Ezra Pound")
 
 
Drop these careful lines; words are such a drag
Expose the naked idea and let my mind bathe
In its bright image
----- Original Message -----
From: sojourners <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 3:47 PM
 
 
> Does this fascination with the self-absorbed, convoluted, and
> overly-pedantic rantings of a virtual moral dwarf--albeit an
> intellectually-gifted one--embarrass no one?
>
> +sergius
> Shaphyutha Skete
> Idaho Rocky mountains