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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Our previous blog post started with a French Poste stamp by Ben.
this is a letter/
this is a stamp/
this is a language/
this is a blog/post/
this is a digital/image/
this is an act/of regard/
this is a moment/of mind/ / / /
The French Phrase it double well :
Qu'est-ce que c'est?For Korean Zen it is the key koan :
What is this?It is part of the Western (
via negativa) way too :
What a delight then to see the front page of today's THE AGE.
What is this? It's about the theft, from the National Gallery of Victoria, of a contemporary artwork:
Have you seen this painting? (2012) by Theatre of the Actors of Regard.
Described as "conceptual-text-on-traditional-landscape-painting intended-for-regard", it is rumoured to have been 'dis-appeared' by a rival practice of young Melbourne artists, The Absence.
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
