Pages

Friday, April 22, 2011

Gardens and Stories

I'm reading Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition by Robert Pogue Harrison. In the chapter on Boccaccio's Decameron, he has this to say:

"The stories ... like the garden settings in which they are told, have intervened in reality … if only by testifying to the transfiguring power of form. By recasting reality in narrative modes, they allow what is otherwise hidden by reality’s amorphous flow of moments to appear in formal relief, just as a garden draws attention to the aesthetically determined relations of things in its midst. That is the magic of both gardens and stories."

12 comments:

  1. That's a very good definition of a garden - an aesthetically determined relationship between plants. An interesting proposition with which to start the day. I shall think about that while I'm "intervening in reality" in my own backyard today ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for that comment. You brought a smile to my face. Intervening in reality, indeed!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bringing the blur into focus. The blogs I enjoy, let me see, what you see.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Blur into focus ... another way to put it. Interesting contrast to Harrison's words.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've read this book and found it disappointing...which is not a good introduction to you, James, of my new blog:

    gardenerinthedistance.blogspot.com

    Shameful/Sameless Faisal.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Faisal,
    Thanks for the introduction to your new blog. I'll let you know what I think when I finish the book. Thanks for the warning too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mmmm Interesting and pretty well along the lines of my thoughts from time to time..I would however add Murder and the Weather to the Magic word!
    I used to regard my own garden work as a form of painting (bollocks) but I think closer to the point methinks it is a film/play/pantomime (in various quantities) With are the 'stars' and all their foibles and all the 'Co's and then the many rabble to help fill some voids..no need to hire a movie or buy expensive theater tickets here..all the drama/sob stories and wars are playing (even in the dark) as I type.

    Keep em coming James

    Best

    Wilhelm Von Blott-Wigand-Blitzkrieg

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wilhelm, I do think in terms of theatricality, with scrims and layers (like a stage set), then time sets the actors in motion. Wars ... yes ... slow motion wars. Sob stories? Interesting idea.

    ReplyDelete
  9. More! I've been meaning to pick up this book, but the stack of books in my office (er, stacks) are already weighing me down.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think it was on your recommendation I bought it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. James, Ah yes, and also a self recommendation, too, I think. My memory is slipping as I near 35. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cripes..." but the stack of books in my office (er, stacks) are already weighing me down." Some people have all the luck..I am 'lucky' if I can purchase one or 2 books a year!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails