David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
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It was today's second image that reminded me of this famous first one above. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1938, before the microphones and cameras of the world, holds up some thing to the crowd and declares, "A Piece of Paper in Our Time". (
click here for more info)
Looking at the image below (from a contributor to
adski_kafeteri under the heading War Art), after a while it was the moustache and the turned collar that set it, for me, in the period of that similarly appointed public salesman Chamberlain. Otherwise, it is both of our time & timeless.
I-Be-Hold
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U-Do-2
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something . . .
LOGOS/HA HA
