2012-02-10T10:22:40Z http://georgesnyder.org/comments/atom.aspx Quick Blogcast tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-06:15872420 George Snyder 2012-02-07T05:11:01Z 2012-02-07T05:11:01Z <span>Austen is talking about love, of course, like all good novelists.&nbsp;Are you sensible about love, or do you let yourself get emotional?&nbsp; What's it going to be,&nbsp;your&nbsp;head or your heart?<br /> <br /> Yes, assimilation makes being different harder to pull off.&nbsp; Camp is the stance of an outsider.&nbsp; Camp thinks divergently.&nbsp; Hard to be divergent if you're fighting to fit in.<br /> <br /> I'm going to go out on a limb though, on your last point, and say that the challenge an artist faces is not to be different or daring or unique, but to simply be.&nbsp;Everything has&nbsp;a model, from&nbsp;a novel to a sonnet to a screenplay.&nbsp; But even if you slavishly copy your model, you will end up with something unique, because it's yours.&nbsp; Trust that.&nbsp; Don't try to be unique or daring or different, but practice being brave enough to allow what you already are to come forth and reveal itself.&nbsp; The old masters had students practice copying their&nbsp;work, because they knew imitation was a great teaching tool.&nbsp;You start with&nbsp;a model and then you move past it, sometimes consciously, but I think more often in spite of yourself.&nbsp; That's what I believe anyway.&nbsp; How can you do the unexpected if you don't&nbsp;know what's expected to begin with?&nbsp; </span> tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-06:15870700 Michael Anson http://www.michaelanson.wordpress.com 2012-02-07T01:34:42Z 2012-02-07T01:34:42Z <span> </span>Just out of curiosity, I was wondering how you would define sensibility as defined by Jane Austen in her novel, "Sense and Sensibility?"<br /> <br /> I also think, as far as camp goes, it has suffered under the need of many gay men and women to assimilite, and not be perceived as outsiders. So much is given up in the effort to fit in.<br /> <br /> Even when it comes to writing, so many follow the path that has already been tread. The challenge as to how my work is unique, daring, and different seems to be the challenge to all artists. tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-06:15870426 George Snyder 2012-02-06T23:34:21Z 2012-02-06T23:34:21Z Dear David, <div>Thank you. &nbsp;There are so many sad sections of Brideshead, I'd forgotten this part. &nbsp;</div> <div>I suppose it was something of a cheap shot, though, going after the Super Bowl.</div> <div>But there are times when I'm just quoting dialogue verbatim, like the Stan Mack Funnies in the Village Voice a thousand years ago, if you remember. &nbsp;Funny stuff back then.</div> <div>Still, it feels these days like there's such a crazy disconnect in the world. &nbsp;</div> <div>What would Leonardo make of Snooki? &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-06:15869881 David 2012-02-06T16:22:22Z 2012-02-06T16:22:22Z Greetings George,<br /> Your laments over the state of the world remind me of Yeats "Second Coming" and that sad section of Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" where Charles Rider enters the ship for a voyage back to England. Waugh writes: "I turned into some of the halls of the ship, which were huge without any splendor, as though they had been designed for a railway coach and preposterously magnified. I passed through vast bronze gates whose ornament was like the trade mark of a cake of soap which had been used once or twice; I trod carpets the colour of blotting paper . . ."<br /> And on goes Waugh. We are not alone in our laments over our failures and disappointments.<br /> Thank you for your writing.<br /> David tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-06:15869830 George Snyder 2012-02-06T15:39:40Z 2012-02-06T15:39:40Z <span>Perhaps instead of buffalo wings they do a lovely chicken skewer or kebab?&nbsp; <br /> And you are absolutely right to go with natural fibers.&nbsp; <br /> Synthetic simply doesn't breathe in the desert.<br /> </span> tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-06:15869825 Justin Caldwell 2012-02-06T15:33:28Z 2012-02-06T15:33:28Z To answer your question, there are no WalMarts in Qatar, but there is a nice Marks & Spencer. I don't know about Buffalo chicken wings, but there is an Applebee's (spelling?). When the local Hermès can provide you with a beautiful black silk burqa, why look for a synthetic one at WalMart? tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-05:15859739 George Snyder 2012-02-05T17:14:54Z 2012-02-05T17:14:54Z <span>Brilliant, Madame, and thank you.We need to remember that it was comments like this that preserved dynasties, contributed to empire, and preserved a social structure that only world war and ruinous death duties could undermine.&nbsp; <br /> </span> tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-05:15859605 Mme Anonyme 2012-02-05T15:07:54Z 2012-02-05T15:07:54Z George dear,<br /><br />As ever a great post. I am reminded of a story told by a close friend about (in)sensibility and hats.<br /><br />Apparently around 1904 (I kid you not) my friend's great grandmother (?) was with her very proper dowager mother and a prospective bride for her brother, who was deemed unsuitable by the family. When asked for suggestions as to what to do that day, the unsuitable said, "Let's go shopping for hats!". The dowager looked down her long nose (I assume it was as her great great has one) and said, "But my dear, we already have our hats." <br /><br />XXXXXXOOO,<br /><br />Mme tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-03:15841156 George Snyder 2012-02-03T17:40:39Z 2012-02-03T17:40:39Z It was your recent post on the new Valentino collection that made it all fall into place for me. <div>Adoring you from the west,</div> <div>1904</div> tag:www.georgesnyder.org,2012-02-03:15836181 Patricia Tapp http://littleaugury.blogspot.com/ 2012-02-03T15:34:06Z 2012-02-03T15:34:06Z oh yes! wonderfully put. pgt