Friday, March 19, 2010

Ezra Pound, conflating epistemology with ethics:
Bad art is inaccurate art. It is art that makes false reports. If a scientist falsifies a report either deliberately or through negligence we consider him as either a criminal or a bad scientist according to the enormity of his offence, and he is punished or despised accordingly. (42)


Pound, Ezra. "The Serious Artist." Literary Essays of Ezra Pound. New York: New Directions, 1968. 41-57. Print.

2 comments:

Julia Bloch said...

It is interesting how EP suggests bad art is art intentionally falsified. Does that mean everyone ought to be capable of producing good, "true" art?

Natalia said...

Only if they're capable of being good people. Like EP, himself a temple of virtue!

Does this moralistic tone not also creep into contemporary discussions of the experimental? That's what's interesting to me. How we feel that a screwup of a scientist ought to be "despised."