The ode must traverse the problem of solipsism before it can approach participating in the unity which is no longer accessible. Wait, what?
by Ernie on 28/07/10 at 9:28 am
I am sitting in a windowless conference room. The walls are lined with sets of leather-bound books with gold-lettered spines. “The ode must traverse the problem of solipsism,” a young man is saying. He pauses for a long time. Underneath the table, one leg is twisted around the other. A stretch of gaunt white ankle shows between trouser and sock. “In order to approach participating in.” He pauses again, his body knotted like a balloon creature made by a children’s entertainer. Finally, in one rush: “The unity which is no longer accessible.” My fellow students utter a long soft gasp, as if at a particularly beautiful firework.
“Brilliant,” says the professor. “Very finely put. But I didn’t quite understand it. Could you repeat it?” I write the sentence down in my notebook, like everyone else in the seminar. The ode must traverse the problem of solipsism before it can approach participating in the unity which is no longer accessible. When I have pieced it together, I realize he is talking nonsense. I am struck by the thought that literary criticism–at least as it is practiced here–is a hoax.
- Helena Echlin, ten years ago in Arete. Click here to read on.
