tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6415228448079976141.post2943239221707278173..comments2024-01-17T09:06:41.408-05:00Comments on BookMenDC: The Habit of ArtTimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09257203824962491470noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6415228448079976141.post-71094315154044164302012-02-09T16:39:14.928-05:002012-02-09T16:39:14.928-05:00However arrogant it may be to sit in public judgme...However arrogant it may be to sit in public judgment of others—and John's comments show how perilous public appearances of any sort are—I don't think we need or even should take Auden as judging Yeats or Bennett as judging Auden. Time <b>does</b> worship language, which is to say art that survives does so because of its aesthetic quality—or in any event, having survived, will be thought to have done so because of its aesthetic quality. Oceans pulverize limestone while diamonds tumble in their waves and sparkle. And Bennett <b>presents</b> an artist like Auden and his work (as Auden did Yeats and his), never lying because never affirming. ("The truest poetry is the most feigning.") As to John's larger points about Stuart and Caliban, and Bennett's and Shakespeare's and Auden's work, I must withhold comment until I've read <i>The Sea and the Mirror</i>, which I'm finally now doing. (Thanks for the goad, John!)Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09257203824962491470noreply@blogger.com