Comments on: Erase http://ionfish.co.uk/2005/10/erase/ Stating the obvious since 1982 Mon, 09 Oct 2006 22:35:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: ionfish http://ionfish.co.uk/2005/10/erase/#comment-114 Tue, 25 Oct 2005 19:19:04 +0000 http://ionfish.co.uk/2005/10/erase/#comment-114 Apart from the impracticality, I think there are real and persuasive arguments against the position I espoused, and you've latched onto some of them. 'Erase' is a radical manifesto, and I'm not sure it's one I could honestly sign up to. Keeping its points in mind is, I think, worth doing, but in the end the position of the article's "companion piece":http://www.ionfish.co.uk/2005/10/explore/ is probably closer to my true feelings on the matter. That said, it was something I wanted to discuss, because I think that making things is something so intrinsic to us. How we respond to it (and as is discussed here, how we _should_ respond to it) is a fascinating area of inquiry. Apart from the impracticality, I think there are real and persuasive arguments against the position I espoused, and you’ve latched onto some of them.

‘Erase’ is a radical manifesto, and I’m not sure it’s one I could honestly sign up to. Keeping its points in mind is, I think, worth doing, but in the end the position of the article’s companion piece is probably closer to my true feelings on the matter.

That said, it was something I wanted to discuss, because I think that making things is something so intrinsic to us. How we respond to it (and as is discussed here, how we should respond to it) is a fascinating area of inquiry.

]]> by: Glyn http://ionfish.co.uk/2005/10/erase/#comment-113 Mon, 24 Oct 2005 22:55:16 +0000 http://ionfish.co.uk/2005/10/erase/#comment-113 This is an interesting thought and such anonymity would really focus the attention on what actually makes the book, film or album great, without the baggage. But as an ardent completist, I like to sample all works from particular 'authors' so as to get an overview of their entire body of work. I guess I'm fascinated by the recurring or contrasting moments in an author's life, the dips and peaks of a long creative career. As such, I would go to some effort to ensure I read an arguably lesser Stoppard such as ??The Real Thing?? or view half-assed Hitchcock like ??Rope?? or ??Marnie??, even if I may know them to be this, because it helps me create a larger picture of a creative individual, which interests me. And they will always contain something of interest anyway. I realise this means that for every complete collection (Bowie for example, even the terrible 80's stuff) they'll be a great artist I should be hunting out who may well have made the defining album of my life, which I know for a fact would be better than ??Tin Machine??. So I do try to compromise -- I still get drawn into my collections but will do my best to sample unknown works, perhaps because of a nice album cover or a good blurb or occasionally a good trailer. Having said that, I think an author's identity does add additional meaning and appreciation to a work even if you try to fight it. This is an interesting thought and such anonymity would really focus the attention on what actually makes the book, film or album great, without the baggage. But as an ardent completist, I like to sample all works from particular ‘authors’ so as to get an overview of their entire body of work. I guess I’m fascinated by the recurring or contrasting moments in an author’s life, the dips and peaks of a long creative career. As such, I would go to some effort to ensure I read an arguably lesser Stoppard such as The Real Thing or view half-assed Hitchcock like Rope or Marnie, even if I may know them to be this, because it helps me create a larger picture of a creative individual, which interests me. And they will always contain something of interest anyway.

I realise this means that for every complete collection (Bowie for example, even the terrible 80’s stuff) they’ll be a great artist I should be hunting out who may well have made the defining album of my life, which I know for a fact would be better than Tin Machine. So I do try to compromise — I still get drawn into my collections but will do my best to sample unknown works, perhaps because of a nice album cover or a good blurb or occasionally a good trailer. Having said that, I think an author’s identity does add additional meaning and appreciation to a work even if you try to fight it.

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