That's interesting about Gibson & Cornell. I haven't read that Gibson novel,
but have a vague sense that I read a chapter of it somewhere because it
sounds very familiar. You're probably right about abstract / concrete as
well, though for me part of this just boils down to the sorts of nouns and
verbs one writer uses as opposed to another. The analogy to visual art is,
well, an analogy, though we think we know the difference between abstract &
"concrete" (representational?) painting. Cornell is fascinating because
though he uses concrete objects that "represent" themselves, the relations
among them are in some sense highly abstract. It's also important that
Cornell's boxes be seen not merely as eccentric or accidental -- whatever
those abstract relations are that he constructs, they have a very insistent
logic.

And I did not mean to dis Borges -- I have a volume of his stories near to
hand and have taught "The Garden of Forking Paths." Now Borges is abstract.

jd

On 6/7/07, andrew burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Yes, Doug, it was 'Borges and I' ... But I had no resources here to
> check it. So thanks,
>
> Androo & I
>
> On 07/06/07, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > I get this, Joe, but also wonder if this question of abstract/concrete
> > isn't as confused as the oner about 'I'/non-'I'. I don't know, but I
> > also then wonder about 'influence,' how such art (artists) affect
> > others, often in the most eccentric manner. Cornell's art became a
> > major, & obvious as content, influence on William Gibson's 2nd novel,
> > Count Zero, wherein an AI practiced an art very like his. So it was
> > part of a story,  Gibson's love of Cornell's art shone through that
> > leve
> >
> > I have to say that I understand the take on Borges as 'cold' or at
> > least cool, but some of his stories move me deeply, & the sheer take
> > the top of your head off thrill of the tale-telling is enough for me.
> >
> > I think the piece Stephen was thinking of is 'Borges and I,' a one page
> > prose piece, from The Maker (1960).
> >
> > Doug
> > On 6-Jun-07, at 7:02 PM, Joseph Duemer wrote:
> >
> > > I spent half a day many years ago in the Cornell room of the Chicago
> > > Art
> > > Museum. 1985, I think. What came across to me was the pure thing-ness
> > > of the
> > > compositions.
> > Douglas Barbour
> > 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> > Edmonton  Ab  T6G 0B9
> > (780) 436 3320
> > http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> >
> > Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> > http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> >
> >
> > Art has to be forgotten: Beauty must be realized.
> >
> >        Piet Mondrian
> >
>
>
> --
> Andrew
> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> http://www.inblogs.net/hispirits
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
>



-- 
Joseph Duemer
Professor of Humanities
Clarkson University
[sharpsand.net]