analytic summary

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JOHN BERGER

Ways of Seeing

BACKGROUND

John Berger was born in 1926 in London and studied at the Central and Chelsea Schools of Art. Although he is known primarily as an art critic and nov­ elist, Berger is also a poet. essayist. translater, playwright. screenwriter, painter (his work has been exhibited in galleries in London). and teacher of drawing. His novel G (1992) about migrant workers in Europe won the Booker Prize. He was an art critic for the New Statesman and the Sunday Times. A prolific author. he has written nine novels and fourteen works of nonfiction. including Ways of Seeing (1972), which was composed in association with a television series cre­ ated for the BBC. This is essentially an argument against the dehumanizing process of co.nsumerism that Berger, as a Marxist, sees as a defining feature of contemporary Western culture. The following reading is drawn from this book. Berger currently lives in a peasant farming community in the French Jura.

APPROACHING BERGER'S ESSAY

Berger demonstrates how many of the distinctive qualities of a particu­ lar advertising campaign are, in reality, borrowed from traditional art and sculp­ ture from the past. He analyzes, from a Marxist perspective. the values that underlie ads and argues that advertising's fundamental ideology is the way it commodifies values by suggesting that middle-class consumers can share, through the purchase of an item, the lifestyles of the rich . How ads do this is by instilling envy and the feeling that life has value only insofar as we are able to purchase things. Berger pOints out that without "publiCity" (his word for advertising) capitalism could not survive and that advertising undermines democracy by diverting people's attention away from the possibility of chang­ ing society toward how to change their place within that society. It forces them "to define their own interests as narrowly as possible," so that they focus on obtaining material possessions rather than on what is happening in the world: "the act of acquiring has taken the place of all other actions," in Berger's view.

712

--

JOHN BERGER, Wayr of Seeing 713

Structurally, the essay is arranged qUite logically. Readers are first asked to acknowledge the ubiquity of advertising images all around them. This is followed by Berger's thesis about the way publicity works, its true message. The rest of the essay is an extended comparison between the visual "language" of oil painting and that of advertising. This comparison serves to highlight the ways that advertising arouses envy in the spectator in order to get its mes­ER sage across ("you are what you have") . Finally, the consequences of this envy are laid out in the final paragraphs that form the conclusion. Berger shows how advertiSing is successful by playing on daydreams that stem from and serve to perpetuate powerlessness.

nd studied at the Central and nartly as an art critic and nov­ iywright, s creenwrtter, painter don), and teacher of drawing. :ope won the Booker Prize. He '.lJ1day Times. A prolific author, . nonfiction, including Ways oj m with a television series cre­ !nt against the dehumanizing t, sees as a defming feature of .ding is drawn from this book. nllIlity in the French Jura.

:inctive qualities of a particu­ from traditional art and sculp­ t perspective, the values that unental ideology is the way it ·class consumers can share, If the rich . How ads do this is ue only insofar as we are able lOut "publicity" (his word for ~hat advertising undermines from the possibility of chang­ Lin that society. It forces them ssible," so that they focus on lat is happening in the world: her actions," in Berger's view.

Ways of Seeing

In the cities in which we live, all of us see hW1dreds of publicity images every day of our lives. No other kind of image confronts us so frequently . .

In no other form of society ill history has there been such a concen­ tration of images, such a density of visual messages .

One may remember or forget these messages but briefly one takes them in, and for a moment they stimulate the imagination by way of either memory or expectation. The publicity image belongs to the moment. We see it as we turn a page, as we turn a corner, as a vehicle passes us. Or we see it on a television screen whilst waiting for the commercial break to end . PubliCity images also belong to the moment in the sense that they must be continually renewed and made up-to-date. Yet they never speak of the pre­ sent,;..Qften they refer to the past and always they speak of the future.

We are now so accustomed to being addressed by these imag~s that we scarcely notice their total impact. A person may notice a particular image or place of information because it corresponds to some particular interest he has. But we accept the total system of publicity images as we accept an element of climate. For example, the fact that these images be­ long to the moment but speak of the future produces a strange effect which has become so familiar that we scarcely notice it. Usually it is we who pass the image-walking, travelling, turning a page: on the tv screen it is somewhat different but even then we are theoretically the active agent-we can look away, turn down the sound, make some coffee. Yet de ­ spite this, one has the impression that publicity images are continually passing us, like express trains on their way to some distant terminus . We are static: they are dynarnic~until the newspaper is thrown away, the television programme continues or the poster is posted over.

Publicity is usually explained and justified as a competitive medium which ultimately benefits the public (the consumer) and the most efficient manufacturers-and thus the national economy. It is closely related to certain ideas about freedom : freedom of choice for the purchaser: freedom

714

10

THE ARTS OF CIVILIZATION

of enterprtse for the manufacturer. The great hoardings and the publicity neons of the cities of capitalism are the immediate visible sign of 'The Free World'.

For many in Eastern Europe such images in the West sum up what they in the East lack. Publicity, it is thought, offers a free choice.

It is true that in publicity one brand of manufacture , one firm, com­ petes with another; but it is also true that every publicity image confirms and enhances every other. Publicity is not merely anassembly of compet­ ing messages: it is a language In itself which is always being used to make the same general proposal. Within publicity, choices are offered between this cream and that cream, that car and this car, but publicity as a system only makes a single proposal.

It proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives, by buying something more. - . - ~

This more, it .proposes, will make us in some way rtcher-even though we will be poorer by having spent our money . .

Publicity persuades us of such a transformation by showing .l,1s peo­ ple who have apparently been transformed and are, as a result, enviable. The state of being envied is what constitutes glamour. And publicity is the process of manufacturtng glamour.

It is important here not to confuse publiCity with the pleasure or benefits to be enjoyed from the things it advertises. Publicity -iSeffective precisely because it~~on the r eal . Clothes, food, cars, cosmetics, baths, sunshine are real things to be enjoyed in themselves. Publicity be­ gins by working on a natural appetite for pleasure. But it cannot offerthe real object of pleasure and there is no cOnvinciIig substitute for a pleasure in that pleasure's own terms. The more convincingly publicity conveys the pleasure of bathing in a warm, distant sea, the more the spectator-buyer will become aware that he is hundreds of miles away from that sea and the more remote the chance of bathing in it will seem to him. This is why publici _~~ver r~~y afforcLto be about the product or opportunity it is proposing to the buyer who is not yet enjoying it. Publicity is never a celebration of a pleasur e-in-itself. Publicity is always about the future buyer. It offers him an im age of himself made glamorous by the product' or opportunity it is tryingTo sell. The image then makes him envious of him­ self as he might be. Yet what makes this self-which-he-might-be enviable? The envy of others. Publicity is about social relations, not objects. Its promise is not of pleasure, but of happiness: happiness as judged from the outside by others. T~p.-Riness of be~K!nvied is gl~ur.

Being envied ~ a ~~itary form of reassurance. It depends precisely upon not sharing your expertence with those who envy you. You are ob­ served with interest but you do not observe with interest-if you do, you will become less enviable . In this respect the envied are like bureaucrats;

, the more impersonal they are, the greater the illusion (for themselves and for others) of their power. The power of the glamorous resides in their sup­ posed happiness: the power of the bureaucrat in his supposed authortty. It is this which explains the absent, unfocused look of so many glamour

Jimages . They look out over the looks of envy which sustain them.

ON

: hoardings and the publicity :diate visible sign of 'The Free

;es in the West sum up what offers a free choice.

manufacture, one firm, com­ 'eD' publicity image confirms ~rely an assem'biY of comp et­ is always being used to make choices are offered between

~ar, but publicity as a system

rm ourselves, or our Yves, ~y

. in some way richer~even

. money. mnation by shOwing us peo- . nd are, as a result, enviable. ;lamour. And publicity is the

lblicity with the pleasure or ·ertises. Publicity fSeffective )thes, food, cars, cosmetics, . in themselves. Publici be­ lsure. But it cannot offer the :ing substitute for a pleasure lcingly publicity conveys the Je more the spectator-buyer iles away from that sea and viiI seem to him. This is why he product or opportunity it )ying it. Publicity is never a is always about the future glamorous by the product-or l makes him envious of him­ vhich-he-might-be enviable? J relations, not Objects. Its : happiness as judged from ~nvied is glamour. lrance . It depends precisely . who envy you. You are ob­ vith interest-if you do, you envied are like bureaucrats; illusion (for themselves and morous resides in their sup­ t in his supposed authority. ~d look of so many glamour lhich sustain them .

J OHN BERGER, Ways ofSeeing 715

The spectator-buyer is meant to envy herself as she will become if she buys the product. She is meant to imagine herself transformed by the product into an object of envy for others, an envy which will then Justi1Y her loving herself. One could put this another way: the publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offers it back to her for the price of the product. . Does the language of publicity have anything in common with that of

oil painting which, until the invention of the camera, dominated the Euro ­ pean way of seeing during four centuries?

It is one of those questions which simply needs to be asked for the 15 answer to become clear. Th~re is a direct continUity. Only interests of cul­ tural prestige have obscured it. At the same time , despite the continuity, there is a profound difference which it is no less important to examine.

There are many direct references in publicity to works of art from the past. Sometimes a whole image is a frank pastiche of a well-known painting.

Publicity images often use sculptures or paintings to lend allure or authority to their own message. Framed oil paintings often hang in shop windows as part of their display .

Any work of art 'quoted' by publicity serves two purposes. Art is a sign of affluence; it belongs to the good life ; it is part of the furnishing which the world gives to the rich and the beautiful.

But a work of art also suggests a cultural authority. a form of dignity. even of wisdom. which is superior to any vulgar material interest; an oil painting belongs to the cultural heritage; it is a reminder of what it means to be a cultivated European. And so the quoted work of art (and this is why it is so useful to publicity) says two almost contradictory things at the same time : it_denotes wealth and spirituality: it implies that the purchase being proposed is both a luxury and a cultural value. Publicity has in fa ct understood the tradition of the oil painting more thoroughly than most art historians . It has grasped the implications of the relationship between the work of art and its spectator-owner and with these it tries to persuade and flatter the spectator-buyer.

The continuity, however. between oil painting and publicity goes far 20 deeper than the 'quoting' of specific paintings. Publicity relies to a very large extent on the language of oil painting. It speaks !n the same voice about the same things. Sometimes the visual correspondences are so close that it is possible to playa game of 'Snap'-putting almost identical images or details of images side by side . It is not. however, just at the level of exact pictOrial correspondence that the continuity is important: it is at the level of the sets of signs used.

Compare the images of publicity and paintings in this book, or take a picture magazine. or walk down a smart shopping street looking at the window displays, and then turn over the pages of an illustrated museum catalogue , and notice how similarly messages are conveyed by the two media. A systematic study needs to be made of this. Here we can do no more than indicate a few areas where the similarity of the devices and aims is particularly striking.

716 THE ARTS OF C/ VlLlZA nON

The gestures of models (mannequins) and mythological figures. The romantic use of nature (leaves, trees, water) to create a place

where innocence can be refound. The exotic and nostalgic attraction of the Mediterranean. The poses taken up to denote stereotypes of women : serene mother

(madonna), free-wheeling secretary (actress, king's mistress). per­ fect hostess (spectator-owner's wife). sex-object (Venus, nymph surprised). etc.

The special sexual emphasis given to women's legs. The materials particularly used to indicate luxury: engraved metal,

furs, polished leather, etc. The gestures and embraces of lovers, arranged frontally for the benefit

of the spectator. The sea, offering a new life . The physical stance of men conveying wealth and virility. The treatment of distance by perspective-offering mystery. The equation of drinking and success. The man as knight (horseman) become motorist.

Why does publicity depend so heavily upon the visual language of oil painting?

Publicity is the culture of the consumer society. It propagates through images that society's belief in itself. There are several reasons why these images use the language of oil painting.

Oil painting, before It was anything else was a celebration of plivate property. As an art-form it derived from the principle that you are what you have.

25

N

nythological figures . rater) to create a place

:editerranean. f women: serene mother tress, king's mistress), per­ ~x-object (Venus, nymph

n's legs. luxury: engraved metal,

ged frontally for the benefit

th and viIility. fering mystery .

:orist.

on the visual language of oil

mer society. It propagates There are several reasons

ting. was a celebration of private prinCiple that you are what

JOHN BERGER, Ways of Suing 717

It is a mistake to think of publicity supplanting the visual art of post- Renaissance Europe; it is the last moribund form of that art.

Publicity is, in essence, nostalgic. It has to sell the past to the future. It cannot itself supply the standards of its own claims . And so all its refer­ ences to quality are bound to be retrospective and traditional. It would lack both confidence and credibility if it used a strictly contemporary language.

Publicity needs to turn to its own advantage the traditional education of the average spectator-buyer. What he has learnt at school of history, mythology. poetry can be used in the manufacturing of glamour. Cigars can be sold in the name of a King , underwear in connection with the Sphinx, a new car by reference to the status of a country house.

In the language of oil painting these vague historical or poetiC or moral references are always present. The fact that they are imprecise and ultimately meaningless is an advantage: they should not be understand­ able, they should merely be reminiscent of cultural lessons half-learnt. PubliCity makes all history mythical. but to do so effectively it needs a vi­ sual language with historical dimensions.

Lastly, a technical development made it easy to translate the language of oil painting into publicity cliches. This was the invention, about fifteen years ago, of cheap colour photography. Such photography can reproduce the colour and texture and tangibility of objects as only oil paint had been able to do before. Colour photography is to the spectator-buyer what oil paint was to the spectator ' owner. Both media use similar, highly tactile

<

THE ARTS OF CTVILIZATION718

means to play upon the spectator's sense of acquiring the real thing which the image shows. In both cases his feeling that he tan almost touch what is in the image reminds him how he might or does possess the real thing.

30 Yet, despite this continuity of language, the function of publicity is very different from that of the oil painting. The spectator-buyer stands in a very different relation to the world from the spectator-owner.

The oil painting showed what its owner was already enjoying among his possessions and his way of life. It consolidated his own sense of his own value. It enhanced his view of himself as he already was. It began with facts, the facts of his life . The paintings embellished the interior in which he actually lived .

The purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dis~at­ isfied with his present way of life. Not with the way of life of society, but with his own within it. It suggests that ifhe.l>uys.what it is o-ffertng,}1is life will become better. It offers him an improved alternative to what he is.

The oil painting was addressed to those who made money out of the market. Publicity is addressed to those who constitute the market, to the spectator-buyer who is also the consumer-producer from whom profits are made twice over as worker and then as buyer. The only places relatively free of publicity are the quarters of the very rich: their money is theirs to keep.

All publici works upon anxiety . The sum of everything is money, to get money -iS to overcom e anxiety. Alternatively the anxiety on which pub­ liCity plays is the fear that having nothing you will be nothing.

35 Money is life. Not in the sense that without money you starve. Not in the sense that capital gives one class power over the entire lives of anoth­ er class. But in the sense that money is the token of, and the key to, every human capacity. The power to spend money is the power to live. Accord­ ing to the legends of publicity, those who lack the power to spend money become literally faceless. Those who have the power become lovable.

Publicity increasingly uses sexuality to sell any product or service. But this sexuality is never free in itself: it is a symbol for something pre­ sumed to be larger than it: the good life in which you can buy whatever you want. To be able to buy is the same thing as being sexually desirable: occasionally this is the explicit message of publicity as in the Barclaycard advertisement above [not shown]. Usually it is the implicit message, i.e. If you are able to buy this product you will be lovable. If you cannot buy it, you will be less lovable.

For publicity the present is by definition insuffiCient. The oil paint­ ing was thought of as a permanent record . One of the pleasures a paint­ ing gave to its owner was the thought that it would convey the image of his present to the future of his descendants. Thus the oil painting was naturally painted in the present tense. The painter painted what was be­ fore him, either in reality or in imagination. The publicity image which is ephemeral uses only the future tense. With this you will become desirable. In these surroundings all your relationships will become happy and radiant.

Publicity principally addressed to the working class tends to promise a personaltransfurma tion through the function of the particular product

"ION

acquiring the real thing which at he can almost touch what is oes possess the real thing. ;e, the function of publicity is [he spectator-buyer stands in le spectator-owner. r was already enjoying among ;olidated his own sense of his f as he already was. It began gs embellished the interior in

e spectator marginally dissat­ the way of life of society, but

JUys what it Is offering, his life j alternative to what he is . ;e who made money out- of the , constitute the market, to the roducer from whom profits are '. The only places relatively free their money is theirs to keep. ;urn of everything is money, to 'ely the anxiety on which pub­ )U Will be nothing. hout money you starve. Not in over the entire lives of anoth­

token of, and the key to, every y is the power to live. Accord­ ck the power to spend money ' e power become lovable. o sell any product or service. l a symbol for something pre­ which you can buy whatever Ig as being sexually deSirable; ,ublicity as in the Barclaycard is the implicit message, i.e. If

: lovable. If you carmot buy it,

on insufficient. The oil patnt­ One of the pleasures a patnt­ it would convey the image of ts. Thus the oil painting was painter painted what was be­ The publicity image which Is

his you will become desirable. tips will become happy and

forking class tends to promise tion of the particular product

JOHN BERGER, Ways of Seeing 719

it is selling (Cinderella); middle-class publicity promises a transformation of relationships through a general atmosphere created by an ensemble of products (The Enchanted Palace).

PubliCity speaks in the future tense and yet the achievement of this future is endlessly deferred. How then does publicity remain credible-or credible enough to exert the influence it does? It remains credible because \ the truthfulness of publicity is judged, not by the real fulfilment of its promises, but by the relevance of its fantasies to those of the spectator­ buyer. Its essential application is not to reality but to day-dreams.

To understand this better we must go back to the notion of glamour. 40 Glamour is a modern invention. In the heyday of the oil painting It did not exist. Ideas of grace, elegance, authority amounted to something appar­ ently similar but fundamentally different.

Mrs. Siddons as seen by Gainsboroughl is not glamorous. because she is not presented as enviable and therefore happy. She may be seen as wealthy, beautiful, talented, lucky. But her qualities are her own and have been recognized as such. What she is does not entirely depend upon oth­ ers wanting to be like her. She is not purely the creature of others' envy­ which is how, for example, Andy Warhol presents Marilyn Monroe. 2

Glamour carmot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion. The industrial society which has moved towards democracy and then stopped half way is the ideal society for generating . such an emotion. The pursuit of individual happiness has been acknowl­ edged as a universal right. Yet the existing social conditions make the in­ dividual feel powerless. He lives in the contradiction between what he is and what he would like to be. Either he then becomes fully conscious of the contradiction and its causes, and so joins the political struggle for a full democracy which entails, amongst other things, the overthrow of cap­ italism; or else he lives, continually subject to an envy which, compound­ ed with his sense of powerlessness, dissolves into recurrent day-dreams.

It is this which makes it possible to understand why publicity remains credible. The gap between what publicity actually offers and the future it promises, corresponds with the gap between what the spectator-buyer feels himself to be and what he would like to be. The two gaps become one; and instead of the single gap being bridged by action or lived experience, it is filled with glamorous day-dreams.

The process is often reinforced by working conditions. The inter­ minable present of meaningless working hours is 'balanced' by a dreamt future in which imaginary activity replaces the passivity of the moment. In his or her day-dreams the passive worker becomes the active consumer. The working self envies the consuming self.

No two dreams are the same. Some are instantaneous, others 45 prolonged. The dream is always personal to the dreamer. Publicity does not manufacture the dream. All that It does is to propose to each one of us that we are not yet enviable-yet could be.

'Mrs. Siddons by Thomas Gainsborough. 1727-88. National Gallery. London. 2MaTilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol.

50

720 THE ARTS OF CIVILIZATION

Publicity has another important social function. The fact that this function has not been planned as a purpose by those who make and use publicity in no way lessens its significance. Publicity turns consum ption ,into a substitut~! 1.emocracy. The choice ofW!i~eats (or weaIS"Or drives)~faKes the place_ of significant political choice. Publicity helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society. And it also masks what is happening In the rest of the world. --

PubliCity adds up to a kind of philosophical system . It explains everything in its own terms. It interprets the world.

The entire world becomes a setting for the fulfilment of publicity's promise of the good life. The world smiles at us. It offers itself to us. And because everywhere is imagined as offering itself to us, everywhere is more or less the same.

Publicity, situated In a future continually deferred, excludes the pre­ sent and so eliminates all becoming, all development. Experience is im­ possible within it. All that happens, happens outside it.

The fact that publicity is eventless would be immediately obvious if it did not use a language which makes of tangibility an event in itself. Every­ thing publicity shows Is there awaiting acquisition. The act of acquiring has taken the place of all other actions, the sense of having has obliterat­ ed all other senses.

PubliCity exerts an enormous influence and is a political phenome­ non of great importance. But its offer is as narrow as its references are wide. It recognizes nothing except the power to acquire. All other human faculties orneeds .i?e made subsidiary to this power. All hopes are gath­ ered together, made homogeneous, simplified, so that they become the in­ tense yet vague, magical yet repeatable promise offered In every purchase. ~ther kind of hope or satis~action or pl~asure can any longer be envis­ aged Within tlfe culture of c a pitalism. -- - -

PubliCi tY i s the life of tnls culture-in so far as without publicity capitalism could not survive-and at the same time publicity is its dream.

Capitalism survives by forCing the majority, whom it exploits, to de­ fine their own Interests as narrowly as possible. This was once achieved by extensive deprivation. Today in the developed countries it is being achieved by imposing a false standard of what is and what is not desirable.

READING CRITICALLY FOR IDEAS. STRUCTURE. AND STYLE .

1. How does advertising use the motifs and themes found in tradi­ tional 011 paintings that display wealth and belong to a cultural

---- -- I

[ON

1 function. The fact that this ~ by those who make and use Publici turns consumption of w hat one eats (or weiu----sDr' ~al choice . Publicity helps to locratic within society. And it the world. ­ sophical system. It explains . world. r the fulfilment of publicity's : us. It offers itself to us . And g itself to us, everywhere is

lIy deferred, excludes the pre­ velopment. Experience is im­ ; outside it. Id be inunediately obviOUS if it bility an event in itself. Every­ ..Iisition. The act of acquiring ,ense of haVing has obliterat­

~ and is a political phenome­ narrow as its references are

. to acquire. All other human

.is p ower. All hopes are gath­ I, so that they become the in­ ise offered in every purchase. >ure can any longer be envis­

so far as without publicity same time publicity is its

lrity, whom it exploits, to de­ le. This was once achieved by countries it is being achieved Ilhat is not desirable .

UCTURE.

I themes found in tradi­ md belong to a cultural

. I JOHN BERGER) Ways of Seeing 721

heritage to sell modern products? What are people really buying along with the product (floor tile, etc.)? How would you answer Berger's question "Why does publicity [advertising] depend so heavily on the visual language of oil painting?"

2. What are some of the different forms in today's advertising that represent themes from the past? Why would these themes be appealing to today's audiences?

3. Implicit in Berger's Mandst critique of capitalism is the belief that advertising "helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society." Do you agree with him that "the choice of what one eats (or wears or drives) takes the place of significant political choice"? Why or why not?

EXTENDING INSIGHTS THROUGH WRITING

1. To what advertising images are you most responsive? Analyze a few of these ads as Berger might see them. For example , what function does glamour (as Berger uses the term) serve in mak­ ing people dissatisfied with themselves and their lives?

'2. Advertisers spend a considerable amount of time, money, and effort in formulating brand names for their products. Discuss the connotations of one or several of these names. For example, in the category of brand names for cars and SUVS , what emo­ tional needs are designed to be met by Regal, Grand Marquis, Riviera, Monte Carlo, Mustang, Firebird, Thunderbird, Explorer, Cherokee, or any other names?

CONNECTING PERSPECTIVES ON THE ARTS OF CIVILIZATION

I. Berger says that art suggests cultural authority, spirituality, and dignity because it is supposedly superior to "vulgar material interest" and "a reminder of what it means to be a cultured Eu­ ropean." In your opinion, is nineteenth-century music, as dis­ cussed by Edward Rothstein, popular with modern audiences for the same reasons? Why or why not?

2. Why wot,lldn't the modern shopping mall, as an extension of Berger's argument, serve the same function in our consumer culture as cathedrals did in medieval times, as discussed by John Ruskin, in "The Stones of St. Mark's"?

722 THE ARTS OF CIVIUZATION

.....

BOOK CONNECTIONS FOR CHAPTER 7

1. Compare the dramatist's method for exploring the meaning of events, described by Artstotle, with the historians' method, described by R. G. Collingwood in "What Is History?" in Chapter 3.

2. Was Leonardo da Vinci, as described by Giorgio Vasari, a hero in Car­ lyle's sense of the term (see "On Heroes and Hero-Worship" in Chap­ ter 3)? Why or why not?

3. In what respects does Michelangelo as described by Henry Moore (in David Sylvester's interview) embody the spirit of the Renaissance as Bill Gates (see 'The Road Ahead" in Chapter 5) embodies the spirit of our infonnation age?

4. How do the accounts of Joseph Addison (see "Reflections in Westmin ­ ster Abbey" in Chapter 1) and John Ruskin deepen our understand­ ing of the meaning cathedrals have in European culture?

5 . Discuss the different attitudes towards the meaning ofTutankhamen's tomb (see Howard Carter's "Finding the Tomb" in Chapter 3) with the Taj Mahal as described by P. D. Ouspensky as memorials in tenns of what they reveal about Egyptian and Indian civilizations.

6. How are many of the different sources and strengths of the English language, as described by Paul Roberts, displayed in John F. Kennedy's "Inaugural Address 1961" in Chapter 3?

7. James Baldwin, in his "Letter to My Nephew" (in Chapter 2), advises his nephew to purge himself of personal bitterness. In what way does this correspond to Gustav Flaubert's artistic credo?

8. Contrast the different motives for returning to the past deSCribed by Edward Rothstein regarding nineteenth-century music and Neil Post­ man on eighteenth-century thinkers (see "Information" in Chapter 5).

9. In what sense is the re-creation of the meaning of events within the mind of the historian, advocated by R. G. Collingwood in "What Is History?" (Chapter 3), similar to the perception created in the mind of the audience through montage deSCribed by Sergei Eisenstein?

10. Although Pavlova is Agnes De Mille's personal hero, would she qualify as a hero from Thomas Carlyle's (see "On Heroes and Hero-Worship" in Chapter 3) perspective? Why or why not?

11. Discuss how both John Berger and Nell Postman in "Information" (in Chapter 5) offer radical critiques of modern culture from different perspectives.