Introduction
Sandyla
TheLifeofTownsEssayabstractanalyzed1.pptxOn The Life of Towns
Abstract/condensed essay chapter intro by Jennifer K Dick analyzed.
TITLE of ESSAY: Circles and Lines / Limits and Extensions : The Kinetic Conflicts Inherent in Anne Carson’s The Life of Towns & Wassily Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane
The following chapter probes the continuum between divide and connection, halt and cyclical return based on definitions and explorations of the point and line in Anne Carson’s The Life of Towns and Wassily Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane. What is at stake at the heart of metaphor is newly explored by Carson’s focus on the subtle visual gesture of adding the punctuation mark to interrupt natural sentence progression. The space for punctum, pause, rift and halt or that of flow, of the line endlessly going on as geometry tells us it must do once it is in motion, get discombobulated. Is Carson’s work reminding us that the end stop is a wall, and that although all words of a sentence apparently make it an intertwined whole, as her “my pear, your winter” indicates, that perhaps there is also something divisive in the very nature of punctuation? This paper is an encounter between Kandinsky and Carson’s writings where the theoretical reflections and formal uses of circle and line in Kandinsky’s abstract paintings serve as a visual parallel to demonstrate the kinetic paradoxes in Carson’s poems. This chapter closes with a selection of Carson’s words translated into Kandinsky-like visual forms and an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of her texts.
The following chapter probes the continuum between divide and connection, halt and cyclical return based on definitions and explorations of the point and line in Anne Carson’s The Life of Towns and Wassily Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane. What is at stake at the heart of metaphor is newly explored by Carson’s focus on the subtle visual gesture of adding the punctuation mark to interrupt natural sentence progression. The space for punctum, pause, rift and halt or that of flow, of the line endlessly going on as geometry tells us it must do once it is in motion, get discombobulated. Is Carson’s work reminding us that the end stop is a wall, and that although all words of a sentence apparently make it an intertwined whole, as her “my pear, your winter” indicates, that perhaps there is also something divisive in the very nature of punctuation? This paper is an encounter between Kandinsky and Carson’s writings where the theoretical reflections and formal uses of circle and line in Kandinsky’s abstract paintings serve as a visual parallel to demonstrate the kinetic paradoxes in Carson’s poems. This chapter closes with a selection of Carson’s words translated into Kandinsky-like visual forms and an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of her texts.
NOTE: WORK TO BE STUDIED IS NAMED CLEARLY
The following chapter probes the continuum between divide and connection, halt and cyclical return based on definitions and explorations of the point and line in Anne Carson’s The Life of Towns and Wassily Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane. What is at stake at the heart of metaphor is newly explored by Carson’s focus on the subtle visual gesture of adding the punctuation mark to interrupt natural sentence progression. The space for punctum, pause, rift and halt or that of flow, of the line endlessly going on as geometry tells us it must do once it is in motion, get discombobulated. Is Carson’s work reminding us that the end stop is a wall, and that although all words of a sentence apparently make it an intertwined whole, as her “my pear, your winter” indicates, that perhaps there is also something divisive in the very nature of punctuation? This paper is an encounter between Kandinsky and Carson’s writings where the theoretical reflections and formal uses of circle and line in Kandinsky’s abstract paintings serve as a visual parallel to demonstrate the kinetic paradoxes in Carson’s poems. This chapter closes with a selection of Carson’s words translated into Kandinsky-like visual forms and an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of her texts.
NOTE 2: Lead in announces WHAT the chapter will do and WHY it is significant to study this
The following chapter probes the continuum between divide and connection, halt and cyclical return based on definitions and explorations of the point and line in Anne Carson’s The Life of Towns and Wassily Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane. What is at stake at the heart of metaphor is newly explored by Carson’s focus on the subtle visual gesture of adding the punctuation mark to interrupt natural sentence progression. The space for punctum, pause, rift and halt or that of flow, of the line endlessly going on as geometry tells us it must do once it is in motion, get discombobulated. Is Carson’s work reminding us that the end stop is a wall, and that although all words of a sentence apparently make it an intertwined whole, as her “my pear, your winter” indicates, that perhaps there is also something divisive in the very nature of punctuation? This paper is an encounter between Kandinsky and Carson’s writings where the theoretical reflections and formal uses of circle and line in Kandinsky’s abstract paintings serve as a visual parallel to demonstrate the kinetic paradoxes in Carson’s poems. This chapter closes with a selection of Carson’s words translated into Kandinsky-like visual forms and an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of her texts.
NOTE: WORK TO BE STUDIED IS NAMED CLEARLY
& TITLES are in ITALICS
Questions that accompany the announced topic
and replace a thesis with a « problemmatic query »
The following chapter probes the continuum between divide and connection, halt and cyclical return based on definitions and explorations of the point and line in Anne Carson’s The Life of Towns and Wassily Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane. What is at stake at the heart of metaphor is newly explored by Carson’s focus on the subtle visual gesture of adding the punctuation mark to interrupt natural sentence progression. The space for punctum, pause, rift and halt or that of flow, of the line endlessly going on as geometry tells us it must do once it is in motion, get discombobulated. Is Carson’s work reminding us that the end stop is a wall, and that although all words of a sentence apparently make it an intertwined whole, as her “my pear, your winter” indicates, that perhaps there is also something divisive in the very nature of punctuation? This paper is an encounter between Kandinsky and Carson’s writings where the theoretical reflections and formal uses of circle and line in Kandinsky’s abstract paintings serve as a visual parallel to demonstrate the kinetic paradoxes in Carson’s poems. This chapter closes with a selection of Carson’s words translated into Kandinsky-like visual forms and an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of her texts.
NOTE: WORK TO BE STUDIED IS NAMED CLEARLY
& TITLES are in ITALICS
Questions that accompany the announced topic
and replace a thesis with a « problemmatic query »
This query eveals that the argumentative position is
that Carson is demonstrating that punctuation is naturally divisive.
The following chapter probes the continuum between divide and connection, halt and cyclical return based on definitions and explorations of the point and line in Anne Carson’s The Life of Towns and Wassily Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane. What is at stake at the heart of metaphor is newly explored by Carson’s focus on the subtle visual gesture of adding the punctuation mark to interrupt natural sentence progression. The space for punctum, pause, rift and halt or that of flow, of the line endlessly going on as geometry tells us it must do once it is in motion, get discombobulated. Is Carson’s work reminding us that the end stop is a wall, and that although all words of a sentence apparently make it an intertwined whole, as her “my pear, your winter” indicates, that perhaps there is also something divisive in the very nature of punctuation? This paper is an encounter between Kandinsky and Carson’s writings where the theoretical reflections and formal uses of circle and line in Kandinsky’s abstract paintings serve as a visual parallel to demonstrate the kinetic paradoxes in Carson’s poems. This chapter closes with a selection of Carson’s words translated into Kandinsky-like visual forms and an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of her texts.
Last 2 sentences: essay map.
Note: the VERBS clarify the position = this paper is a comparative exploration of
Kandinsky & Carson’s uses of circle/line (thus period and line in Carson)
Final sentence: announces an unusual form of translation in paper & study of the result
ABSTRACT VERSION (the one you just saw), sent when I proposed this as a talk:
This paper is an encounter between Kandinsky and Carson’s writings where the theoretical reflections and formal uses of circle and line in Kandinsky’s abstract paintings serve as a visual parallel to demonstrate the kinetic paradoxes in Carson’s poems. This chapter closes with a selection of Carson’s words translated into Kandinsky-like visual forms and an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of her texts.
VERSION in the final print CHAPTER (essay chapter):
What follows is a chapter in two parts. The first one uses Kandinsky and Carson’s theoretical writings to discuss the connective and disconnective uses of the period in Carson’s The Life of Towns. The second part translates Carson’s poetic lines into visual ones based on Kandinsky’s writings and drawings of what he called “broken lines”. These translations are accompanied by an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of the texts.
ESSAY MAP: basically pre-announces what you will read
The WHAT is clearly announced
ESSAY MAP
VERSION in the final print CHAPTER (essay chapter):
What follows is a chapter in two parts. The first one uses Kandinsky and Carson’s theoretical writings to discuss the connective and disconnective uses of the period in Carson’s The Life of Towns. The second part translates Carson’s poetic lines into visual ones based on Kandinsky’s writings and drawings of what he called “broken lines”. These translations are accompanied by an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of the texts.
Red = verbs
--announce the action and reveal its intent:
* « discuss » thus study, see how it is done
* « translate » thus take from one language to another:
this time linguistic to visual language
* « inform »: what looking at this odd translation teaches
the reader about the texts
ESSAY MAP
VERSION in the final print CHAPTER (essay chapter):
What follows is a chapter in two parts. The first one uses Kandinsky and Carson’s theoretical writings to discuss the connective and disconnective uses of the period in Carson’s The Life of Towns. The second part translates Carson’s poetic lines into visual ones based on Kandinsky’s writings and drawings of what he called “broken lines”. These translations are accompanied by an analysis of how such a process informs the reading of the texts.
Green = specifics are already announced
Clarifies precisely what is being « discussed » (= the period) and from what position (= dual position, arguing that the period as punctuation mark is both a stop and a connection)
Clarifies specific type of translation = from language into image
Clarifies the post translation conversation = that it will serve to analyze how such an odd translation can be informative and useful to reading, AND what doing a translation can teach readers about how one reads Carson
To read full essay
Look at the PDF posted into the MOODLE section on Plainwater. From POINTS book (Cambridge Scholars publisher).
