After reconsidering the strongest overarching theme that connects A.O. Scott’s Better Living Through Criticism to Stephen Greenblatt’s Renaissance Self-Fashioning, I have come to the conclusion that it is self-betterment. Through aesthetic experiences and the knowledge that autonomous agency is out of our reach, we have the ability to change our lives. This understanding presents us with “an ineradicable principle of hope,” and directs us towards a more fulfilling existence.
The very title Better Living Through Criticism suggests that through the process of criticism, one can improve or change one’s life. The process of criticism involves something that was produced as a result of a certain experience or epiphany in its creator’s life and someone who views this creation. The viewer brings with them all of their life experiences, thus causing them to look at the creation through a lense of their own biases. It is through this practice of criticism that we learn more about ourselves and our predilections, better observe our surroundings, and ask more meaningful questions. Similarly, Greenblatt contests that “one man’s alien is another man’s authority,” meaning that due to the difference in our experience, what may be foreign and distorted to one could be familiar and comforting to another. By questioning why we see certain things as aliens, we can dig deeper into our biases and better understand why they exist, allowing for self discovery and a more inquisitive outlook. Scott’s concept of the aesthetic experience, which occurs when one has an experience with art that evokes an emotional response, is an important and vital part of the self betterment process. By analyzing and using Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo” as an example, Scott is able to explain the inner-workings of an aesthetic experience. He walks us through an imaginary experience of visiting the Torso of Apollo, and shows us that reading Rilke’s sonnet or viewing the work of art that it is focused on can make one feel seen, exposed, vulnerable, and, at the same time, powerful. This occurs, not because we are feeling validated by another person’s creation, but because we are able to look at this creation and see ourselves and our own experiences. In this moment of vulnerability that comes with viewing art and subsequently feeling something, one’s existence is more intensified, purposeful, and mindful than it is daily, or, perhaps, ever. Additionally, having the awareness that there is a greater power at play, that we will never be able to exercise complete autonomy over our own fates, makes life less of a tug of war. Greenblatt even includes his own personal experiences of grappling with the reality that “the dream of autonomous agency, though intensely experienced and tenaciously embraced, is only a dream” both in the preface, where he acknowledges that his “voice could not float free of a powerful set of institutional, intellectual, and historical forces,” and in the epilogue, where he finds himself on a plane wishing that he had the ability to be autonomous, but remembering that, alas, he did not. Because of this realization, Greenblatt was able to shift his focus from wanting and trying to achieve autonomy onto pondering “how we have become the way we are.” Releasing the idea of autonomous control allowed him to be elevated to a higher level of consciousness. This is a prime example of Greenblatt’s brilliant concept of “the force of submission.” However, this force of submission is not connotated by the defeat or passivity that one may assume, but rather by the empowerment and peace that comes with knowing that there will be no more struggle to gain control that will never be had. The growth that occurs due to self-reflection prompted by critical engagement with external things is undeniable. This is the central theme that is present in both Scott and Greenblatt’s work, and it is what ultimately leads to the long and winding but rewarding road to self betterment.
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8/2/2022 03:56:19 am
Tiktok’ta kitlenizi arttırmak ve daha fazla etkileşim almanız için hizmetlerimizi deneyebilirsiniz. Gönderileriniz kısa sürede binlerce kişi tarafından izlenecek ve beğeni yağmuruna tutulacak.
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