tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post7410527034521821628..comments2023-06-21T18:53:11.897+10:00Comments on Pykk: in her hairUmbagollahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-15190118581483614452011-03-18T08:37:02.945+11:002011-03-18T08:37:02.945+11:00Samuel Butler, opening a speech with an excellent ...Samuel Butler, opening a speech with an excellent use of doubt: "I have been asked to speak on the question how to make the best of life, but may as well confess at once that I know nothing about it. I cannot think that I have made the best of my own life, nor is it likely that I shall make much better of what may or may not remain to me. I do not even know how to make the best of the twenty minutes that your committee has placed at my disposal ..." and then goes on to feel his way through the idea pretty brilliantly. <br /><br />http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/15275/Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-52219737396235700192011-03-17T05:36:26.001+11:002011-03-17T05:36:26.001+11:00Anthony Gottleib in the New York Times recently, o...Anthony Gottleib in the New York Times recently, on Montaigne: "Montaigne does often state his considered view, but rarely without suggesting, explicitly or otherwise, that maybe he is wrong." My feeling is that if you (not 'you' specifically, but the general 'you') have doubts then it's wiser to admit them and try to sort them out, than try to pretend they're not there and paste over them, as I think Petersen does. There are some writers who are good at certainty, Ruskin, Robert Hughes, but I'm not Ruskin or Robert Hughes, and it's <i>exploration</i> that's important, in the end. You explore with what you've got, and Ruskin explored certainty, Hughes explores certainty, but if you haven't got certainty then doubt needs to be <i>it</i>.Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-18024337240776472122011-03-16T10:43:36.454+11:002011-03-16T10:43:36.454+11:00Oh, you make me laugh DKS. Loved, after all that, ...Oh, you make me laugh DKS. Loved, after all that, your last para!<br /><br />But love your discussion too ... being a rather wishy washy person who can rarely see something without also seeing the opposite or at least another perspective, I usually find it hard to argue for anything decisively. The reason for this I suppose is that everything is, in the end, itself. And so, no matter how much we try to make it something else, it isn't and can't be. And therein lies the fun - my bit of the "is" it is, can very well be different to yours.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com