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A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/104996/ Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications COPYRIGHT Reproduction of this thesis, other than as permitted under the United Kingdom Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under specific agreement with the copyright holder, is prohibited. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. REPRODUCTION QUALITY NOTICE The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the original thesis. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the highest quality of reproduction, some pages which contain small or poor printing may not reproduce well. Previously copyrighted material Qournal articles, published texts etc.) is not reproduced. THIS THESIS HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED 3 Towards a Creative Aesthetics - W ith Reference to Bergson Coryn Russell Ronald Smethurst B .A. Hons., M.A. This Work is Submitted for the Qualification of PhD To the University of Warwick Research conducted in The Department of Philosophy Submitted: September. 2001. Contents Acknowledgements 1 Summary 2 Introduction 3 The Topic 3 A Brief Outline 5 Section I 8 Chapter 1- Laughter 8 Introduction 8 Humour and Sympathy 10 Self-mockery 19 Flexibility versus Types 28 Eccentricity as Rigidity 34 Humour and Madness 51 The Repeating Machine 56 Humour and Habit 61 Masquerade and Disguise 64 The Jobsworth 67 Morality and Humour 70 Flexibility and 'Self-Negation' 72 Must Jokes have Points? 75 Summing Up 81 Section II 84 Introduction - Commonness, Art and Repetition 84 Chapter 2 - 'Concepts' and their Alternatives 86 Motif versus Formula 86 Without Moore(ing) 87 Reason and Dreams 98 Motif versus Concept 107 Concepts 109 Fluid Concepts 122 Chapter 3 - Intuition and Poetry 125 Intuition Before Symbols 125 More Photographs 142 Is Bergson a Formalist? 155 Defamiliarisation 163 Chapter 4 - Aesthetics 173 Music and Art 173 Rhythm, Music and Dance 182 Painting, Perception and Truth 217 Cinema and Music 230 Deeper Perception 243 1 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge my debt to all those who have taught me, my parents, and my friends without whom I would not have completed my studies. 2 Summary This thesis explores issues in aesthetics with reference to Bergson. The first chapter outlines and assesses Bergson's interesting and subtle theory of humour, which emphasises the necessary lack of sympathy in humour, and its generalising, external methodology. In doing so it explores the different ways the motif of 'something encrusted on the living' functions on various levels. This is ultimately found to be an interesting account which has many merits. The second chapter then begins to outline the theoretical structure of Bergson's account of humour in terms of vertical and horizontal movement. This leads to an account of Bergson's critique of 'ordinary' conceptual language and a consideration of other alternatives, including metaphor. The third chapter discusses Bergson's notion of intuition and levels of interpretation - assessing what, if any, relation there is between Russian Formalism and Bergson's own understanding of poetry. The notion of levels helps to define Bergson's anti-modernism, when modernism is understood as the self-referential exposure of the art work's own conditions of possibility. The fourth chapter examines several art forms. Music is discussed in some detail with particular attention being paid to the distinction between rhythm and melody, notions of repetition, creativity and difference. A comparison it then made between Bergson's thoughts on evolution and melodic creativity. This discussion is of importance not only for the light it casts on aesthetic issues, but also because music, or more specifically melody, is often given as an example of the heterogeneous continuity of duration. The thesis also examines painting, particularly in relation to duration, comparing it with photography. Bergson's arguments against cinema are then discussed. The thesis also examines how the role of sympathy functions in artistic production generally. Finally Bergson's ability to distinguish between art and philosophy is examined referring back to notions of self-reflexivity in art. 3 INTRODUCTION The Topic This thesis is primarily concerned with aesthetics with particular reference to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, including the "justement célébré" third chapter of his work Laughter.1 The reason for such particular reference is the explicit emphasis Bergson's aesthetics place on the involvement of duration in art, which considering the recurrent themes of his work is unsurprising. Such an emphasis on duration engages Bergson in a series of positions on art which are original and in some cases unusual. Bergson's attack on cinema is a good example of such a position. On the other hand the art form which is most associated with time is music indeed one critic has gone so far as to claim: Music is the art of all creation and Bergson understands it best.2 As the author of this thesis is an active composer as well as a philosopher, the centrality of sound and music to Bergson's aesthetics is immediately attractive. 1 Vladimir Jankélèvitch, Henri Bergson (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 1959) p. 122. (Henceforth, Jankélèvitch) 2 Hillary L. Fink, Bergson and Russian Modernism. 1900-30 (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1999) (Henceforth, RM) p. 44 4 Secondly, Bergson's extremely detailed philosophy of humour has been much commented on, such commentary has more often than not isolated this work from Bergson's aesthetics. Given that philosophical considerations of humour are, at best, most often peripheral to aesthetics, it is interesting to see how Bergson tackles the issue. This is especially important considering the amount of humour present in some of the great art works of the twentieth century: Duchamp, Cage, Joyce and Beckett to name but four examples. It also seems peculiar considering the number of comic artistic works pre-dating this century such as, Tristram Shandy. Goethe's Faust. Cervantes' Don Quixote. Voltaire's Candide or Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel (the last two directly attacking certain philosophical positions). So in this light the desirability of an examination of humour and its relation to aesthetics constitutes another attractive reason for referring to Bergson's philosophy. These, then, are the two main reasons behind this works' choice of topic. Why, however, has this thesis chosen to deal with humour and aesthetics, rather than selecting one of these topics? The simple answer is that humour and aesthetics are often treated as opposites which in some sense define each other through that opposition, an idea which will become clearer in the main body of this work. 5 A Brief Outline The thesis is divided into two main sections, the first section deals explicitly and specifically with humour. The second section begins with chapter 2 and concerns itself with the theoretical structure of Bergson's account of laughter, examining in particular Bergson's use of the term 'motif and his distinction between central and peripheral examples of humour and the nature of the 'connections' between the various central examples, on the one hand, and between peripheral and central examples on the other, i.e. vertical and horizontal movement respectively. In this connection Moore's account of the theoretical structure of Laughter will be examined and found to be inadequate. Bergson's account and criticisms of 'ordinary' concepts as used in philosophy will then be explored in order to assess Bergson's attempts to outline alternative types of concepts. Chapter 3 will start by examining his description of intuition, a seemingly non-conceptual mode of knowledge. This will in turn lead to a discussion of the element / part distinction which is important for understanding the difference between an intuitive understanding and one based on analysis. Poetic language will then be explored. Poetic language is seen to present the 'part' rather than the 'element'. Bergson's account of rhythm in poetry will then be discussed with reference to the Early Russian Formalist literary critics and Bergson's relationship to modernism in art, understood as the exploration of the basic conditions of possibility explored. 6 Chapter 4 focuses on music, firstly looking at the general account which Bergson gives of music. This account emphasises the similarities between the understanding of music and poetry. Moving more deeply into Bergson's understanding of music, the dichotomy between rhythm and melody is emphasised and explored. Particular attention is then paid to the notion of rhythm and the distinction between repetitious and creative changing rhythms. According to Bergson, rhythm in both poetry and music works on the listener via a process o f suggestion which is linked to rhythm. This process of suggestion involves a revelation of truth, not only in poetry and music, but also in the aesthetic sphere in general. The differing relations between duration and painting, photography and cinema will then be explored. The truth which art attains, according to Bergson, is specific, as opposed to the general, which is the province of humour. How art accesses the truth in the case of both literature and painting is then discussed. The creativity which is at the heart of Bergson's notion of truth in art, which is equated with 'life' and opposed to repetition, is then explored in terms of processes which work with elements rather than parts, i.e.