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Monday, April 28, 2008
Edward Champion on Sven Birkerts and the Frightening Fitzroya
Comments
"Tautology”?
Yeah, I think he meant ‘circular’ - as in: Birkerts begs the question with negative hints so heavy they preclude even any serious show of letting the balance fall where it may, good or bad.
‘Tautology’ is not a clear way to put that criticism.
It makes a damned fine comment on a link labeled “Link”, though, so for that I thank him.
My most satisfying accomplishment at the day job lately came during an IM about the blandness of Mahendra Singh’s snark recipe when my insterlocutor (a far more intelligent, educated, and talented gent than myself) was led to mention “Friends, Romans, countrymen”, thus giving me a once in a lifetime set-up for “I come to curry Caesar, not to braise him.” In this sense (and in this sense only), I do believe the literary establishment underrates the importance of straight men.
Hello Mr. Davis!
I must make a defense of my Snark recipe! Bland, yes, a trifle, but such is the way of the Assamese. For those who prefer their curries spicier, I did include an alternative seasoning, equally tasty, to zip it up. Not authentically Assamese though!
The Assamese are an abstemious people and they find the flesh of the Snark heavy and indigestible, they are still in their salad daze, as we say.
very best,
Mahendra Singh
"His complaints are centered exclusively around his own perceptive hang-ups. He did not cite any specific examples to justify his line of thinking. I pointed out to him that his gripes were primarily perceptive and conceptual[...]”
Does anyone else find this apparent mix-up between perceptive and perceptual to be highly annoying, or is it just me?
From my unabridged:
tautology: 1. needless repetition of an idea, esp. in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness 2. an instance of such repetition
Those who offer the position that a blog is an inferior medium for writing tend to repeat this point over and over again. Ergo, a tautology. But Mr. Holbo’s reading is close too.
perceptive 3. of, pertaining to, or showing perception
Idiosyncratic usage, yes. But still valid.