Is there anything approaching a universal truth in Octavio Paz’s view? –
Everything is against it: morals, classes, laws, races, and the very lovers themselves. Woman has always been for man the “other,” his opposite and complement. If one part of our being longs to unite itself with her, another part - equally imperious - rejects and excludes her. Woman is an object sometimes precious, sometimes harmful, but always different. By converting her into an object and by subjecting her to deformations which serve his interests, his vanity, his anguish and his very love dictate, man changes her into an instrument, a means of achieving survival. Woman is an idol, a goddess, a mother, a witch or a muse, as Simone de Beauvoir has said, but she can never be her own self. Thus our erotic relationships are vitiated at the outset, are poisoned at the root.
(Quoted from page 23 of A Poetics of Being-Two: Irigaray’s Ethics and Post-Symbolist Poetry, by M. F. Simone Roberts. Lexington Books, 2011.)
For a brief biography of Octavio Paz, click here. For images of or relating to Octavio Paz, click here. For a brief biography of Luce Irigaray, click here.
The Friend You've Been Waiting For
- The friend you've been waiting for has also been waiting for you. Meet each other at your local animal shelter.
Who runs this blog?
- The Saunterer. That's me, H. Charles Romesburg, Professor in the Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University. As part of my research I saunter through the writings of especially creative people, keeping an eye open for insightful ideas on subjects that are joined with great goodness and creativity. I will in this blog present ideas from the writings of more than three hundred of these creators: painters, scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, writers, poets, naturalists, actors, rock climbers and more. Among the subjects that will be covered: How workers in most every vocation and avocation can work as artists do, creating use, beauty, or both, of rare note. How regularly experiencing wild nature makes us better creators. How it is that the more all forms of life come to be revered, the more creative society will be. For some of the other subjects that will be covered, click on cnr.usu.edu/romesburg
Complete Archives
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Copyright 2005 by H. C. Romesburg
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January 12, 2011
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Recent Posts
- T. M. Luhrmann on Go
- from the great Indian epic the Mahabharata
- Elizabeth Hamilton on beauty
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- The Saunterer's method of organizing books
- Robert Frost on revolutionizing the world
- Avi Loeb on preserving the world
- Sir Michael Edwards on how a foreign language affects your feelings
- David Attenborough on the human race’s greatest folly
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Recent Comments
- Nrsys on Willi Unsoeld on ananda
- James Radford on Tony La Russa on why cats are very special
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- James Radford on Virginia Gildersleeve on political correctness
- James Radford on Will Durant on where to find the story of your life
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- D on Amelia Earhart advised women to compete
- Natasi Leeva on Charles Seigneur de Saint-Évremond on the value of patience
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Books by H. Charles Romesburg
H. Charles Romesburg: The Life of the Creative Spirit
Practically all of the quotations in this blog's posts are collected in "The Life of the Creative Spirit."H. Charles Romesburg: How About It, Writer?
Based on a study of more than 12,000 essays from the very best literary magazines, this book provides writers with lists of thousands of classic forms of opening sentences, titles, transition sentences, ways of saying "for example," and ways of closing nonfiction pieces. When you are writing an essay and want a hint for a better or fresh way of saying what you mean, looking through the lists acts on the imagination, stimulating your creativity. From Lulu Press (ISBN 1-4116-2862-4, 194 pp., softback), it's $16.95 when ordered from Lulu.com/Romesburg , and $22.95 from bookstores. To view its cover, click on www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer.htm To view its title page, contents, and first two chapters, click on: www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer_preview.pdfH Charles Romesburg: Best Research Practices
The Saunterer’s new book (2009), Best Research Practices explains how to plan and carry out reliable experiments, how to conceive and circumstantially support research hypotheses, how to test research hypotheses with the hypothetico-deductive method, how to discover cause and effect, and more. It’s based on his examination of 5,000 top scientific articles, studying the methods used to produce reliable knowledge. Preview it on-line by going to the following link: http://print.google.com/print?isbn=9780557017836
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