Scott + Greenblatt, 2.0
There are always selves- a sense of personal order, a characteristic mode of address o the world, a structure of bounded desires- and always some elements of deliberate shaping in the formation and expression of identity."
-Stephen Greenblatt
Cover Letter
Identifying the overarching connection between Scott and Greenblatt showed me how much my thinking has evolved throughout the semester. It felt gratifying to be able to piece together concepts after reading and analyzing the texts so closely, and I noticed I feel much stronger forming these connections than when I wrote this piece for the first time. While my initial overarching concept was societal progression, my new piece focuses on agency through art, identity, and culture, and how criticism is how we attempt to exercise agency in our lives. Reflecting on the work I've done this semester has showed me how much I have enhanced my thinking and expanded the ideas from the texts to other areas in my life. I realize I will carry these ideas and ways of thinking with me for the rest of my life as I navigate through my own search for autonomy and agency. While challenging, the close reading and thinking I have done both in and out of class while engaging with the texts helped me wrestle with my ideas and gain an understanding of the attempted human agency constructed in relation to authorities and aliens.
The dream if autonomous agency, though intensely experienced and tenaciously embraced, is only a dream."
- Stephen Greenblatt
Attempted Agency in Scott and Greenblatt
Throughout “Renaissance Self-Fashioning” and “Better Living Through Criticism,” both A.O. Scott and Stephen Greenblatt conceptualize the dialectical relationships between art, culture, and identity through the overarching intersection of agency. As we attempt to form our own identities, we simultaneously subscribe to authorities and aliens located outside the self, resulting in the manipulation and loss of sense of self. Through criticizing art, we exercise false agency in an attempt to shape identity, while submitting to the higher societal forces of self-fashioning. Criticism is how we navigate the dialectical tension between the illusory understanding of the self as a product of autonomous agency and the structures of power they form.
Criticism is our response to art and attempt to gain agency and shape our identities while making sense of the world around us. It is one of the most ennobling, essential, and creative acts of our existence, as it enriches our lives by providing us with purpose and meaning. It is our attempt to control the generation of identity by internalizing outward aesthetic experiences. However, every time we respond to art through criticism, we are self-fashioned by an outside force. It is an act of “submission to an absolute power or authority situated at least partially outside the self” and a product of self-fashioning (Greenblatt 9). Whether or not we like a piece of art, we submit to some authority by simply responding to it. Similarly, whether we agree or disagree with the ideas presented by Greenblatt, we submit to his argument regardless. Anything we do in society is an act of submission, because every decision we make is somehow influenced by an outside force.
Renaissance Self-Fashioning examines how the force of submission shapes our identities in relation to authorities in aliens. The relationship between self, alien, and authority exists everywhere, as anything we do regarding identity or taste is an act of submission to either an authority or an alien. Every aspect of self-fashioning is oppositely dependent on another structure to exist. We cannot have an alien without an authority or an authority without an alien, and there must be a self to be fashioned, and there is no truth outside of accepting that this dialectic, recursive, and reflexive process exists and is inescapable. These authorities assert control over individual identities, and we constantly subscribe to authorities and aliens as we attempt to be the shapers of our own identities.
The intersecting idea that links these two texts together is that art and taste are products of self-fashioning, which results from our attempted possession of agency over our identity. Greenblatt addresses the power held by particular institutions to influence the generation of identity. These forces impact modes of expression of character. Art is no exception; art is comprised of ideas which artists gain by submitting to authorities, and we submit to authorities by criticizing art. Additionally, the artifacts we cherish and conserve in museums are often rooted in “money and power, scarred by domination,” and reflect the institutional authorities that govern what we deem valuable and dignified (Scott 98). As we produce, view, and criticize art, we exercise a false sense of agency, submitting to authorities simply by interacting with art and the ideas it invokes. Thus, to abandon the false agency we experience through criticism is “to abandon the craving for freedom” (Greenblatt 257).
Throughout this discussion of agency, A.O. Scott and Greenblatt both prescribe hopeful undertones for the reader. By submitting to the authorities and aliens around us, we can challenge deeply accepted ideas to uncover new truths and achieve change. We should not let this realization makes us feel powerless, because we still have the agency to enjoy art and culture and feel moved by it. What results from our attempted control is beautiful and gives our lives meaning. Whether or not we have autonomy over our identities, we still live in a world where people express themselves through creation of music, art, poetry, etc. Our attempted control over our taste and identity results in culture, which in turn shapes us, creating the unending, dialectic and reflexive relationship of the human experience.
Criticism is our response to art and attempt to gain agency and shape our identities while making sense of the world around us. It is one of the most ennobling, essential, and creative acts of our existence, as it enriches our lives by providing us with purpose and meaning. It is our attempt to control the generation of identity by internalizing outward aesthetic experiences. However, every time we respond to art through criticism, we are self-fashioned by an outside force. It is an act of “submission to an absolute power or authority situated at least partially outside the self” and a product of self-fashioning (Greenblatt 9). Whether or not we like a piece of art, we submit to some authority by simply responding to it. Similarly, whether we agree or disagree with the ideas presented by Greenblatt, we submit to his argument regardless. Anything we do in society is an act of submission, because every decision we make is somehow influenced by an outside force.
Renaissance Self-Fashioning examines how the force of submission shapes our identities in relation to authorities in aliens. The relationship between self, alien, and authority exists everywhere, as anything we do regarding identity or taste is an act of submission to either an authority or an alien. Every aspect of self-fashioning is oppositely dependent on another structure to exist. We cannot have an alien without an authority or an authority without an alien, and there must be a self to be fashioned, and there is no truth outside of accepting that this dialectic, recursive, and reflexive process exists and is inescapable. These authorities assert control over individual identities, and we constantly subscribe to authorities and aliens as we attempt to be the shapers of our own identities.
The intersecting idea that links these two texts together is that art and taste are products of self-fashioning, which results from our attempted possession of agency over our identity. Greenblatt addresses the power held by particular institutions to influence the generation of identity. These forces impact modes of expression of character. Art is no exception; art is comprised of ideas which artists gain by submitting to authorities, and we submit to authorities by criticizing art. Additionally, the artifacts we cherish and conserve in museums are often rooted in “money and power, scarred by domination,” and reflect the institutional authorities that govern what we deem valuable and dignified (Scott 98). As we produce, view, and criticize art, we exercise a false sense of agency, submitting to authorities simply by interacting with art and the ideas it invokes. Thus, to abandon the false agency we experience through criticism is “to abandon the craving for freedom” (Greenblatt 257).
Throughout this discussion of agency, A.O. Scott and Greenblatt both prescribe hopeful undertones for the reader. By submitting to the authorities and aliens around us, we can challenge deeply accepted ideas to uncover new truths and achieve change. We should not let this realization makes us feel powerless, because we still have the agency to enjoy art and culture and feel moved by it. What results from our attempted control is beautiful and gives our lives meaning. Whether or not we have autonomy over our identities, we still live in a world where people express themselves through creation of music, art, poetry, etc. Our attempted control over our taste and identity results in culture, which in turn shapes us, creating the unending, dialectic and reflexive relationship of the human experience.
I want to bear witness at the close to my overwhelming need to sustain the illusion that I am the principal maker of my own identity."
-Stephen Greenblatt
Cover Letter
My concept map is designed to illustrate how the themes from the various texts we read over the summer connect in powerful ways. I wanted to delve into the individual ideas of each text while identifying the overarching themes that connect all of the readings. Originally, I wrote a rhetorical analysis on Brainpickings. While this was wrong, I still feel it was valuable to my writing experience. The thinking I did for that helped me reflect on all of the texts and write my new piece. I was able to incorporate the same ideas into my new persuasive writing piece, so I still feel like that was a valuable writing experience. This mistake also showed me to always seek out clarification so I know I am doing the assignment the way it is supposed to be completed. In my new piece, I wanted to bring together the complex ideas of culture, identity, art, beauty, criticism in a digestible way for the reader, and show how these themes shape us internally while also empowering us to change society. I wanted to present how these themes emerge in society, how they shape us, and how they can be the engine for social change. I tried to explain these themes in a way that would help the reader better understand their own role in society as an artist, critic, and questioner. It was difficult to navigate through the philosophical texts and concepts and bring them all together, but I feel I was able to do so in an insightful and reflective way. My overall goal was to encapsulate the complexity and harmony of the ideas from the reading and provide fresh, valuable insight.
Concept Map
Since this image is a bit difficult to read, I included zoomed-in photos below to clearly illustrate how the ideas presented connect to one another.
Persuasive Description of Concept Map
I organized my concept map to analyze the deeper themes of the texts while displaying the overarching concepts that connect them. While the various texts from our summer reading appear seemingly disparate, many unifying themes join together the different ideas and thinkers. They all share philosophical themes of art, culture, and humanity, and provoke the reader to form their own insights on these powerful ideas and engage in self-reflection. The main unifying theme that links the texts is social progression, as every topic discussed by the authors is crucial to moving forward as a society. My concept map successfully synthesizes the themes and rhetorical purposes of the texts to uncover the key idea: achieving social change.
In Better Living Through Criticism, A. O. Scott illustrates the social power of criticism. Scott uncovers how art, taste, and criticism are all necessary parts of an evolving society. Criticism is a form of challenging or affirming beliefs to enact social change, and because of criticism, society is constantly changing and amending itself to new beliefs. A critic challenges conventional ways of thinking in order to enact change or make a difference. Not only does this impact art, but it is essential for societal progression and allows us to adapt, evolve, challenge and confirm ways of thinking and systems of beliefs.
Similarly, Renaissance Self-Fashioning by Stephen Greenblatt reveals how literature is a reflection of morals and society and often serves as an expression of social rules and instructions. Like art, literature has the power to move people, create intimacy, and build connections, and is a reflection of the criticism which shapes society. Literature influences the process of self-fashioning, which refers to constructing and shaping one’s identity through changes in character, perception, and behavior. Historical literature can reveal deeper cultural patterns and structures of power, and is the key to understanding history. Art and literature are both vital for social progression as they shape society, bring people together, and allow us to view deeper connections. My concept map visually demonstrates these thematic connections between the texts.
Warren Berger discusses similar themes in A More Beautiful Question, where he highlights the importance of asking meaningful questions. Questioning is simply organizing our thinking around what we do not know, and is just as fundamental to society as the themes of art, criticism, and literature discussed in the other texts. Investigating accepted systems of beliefs through questioning is a catalyst for progression, as questions are the starting point to innovation and can lead to revolutionary change, including the invention of the Polaroid camera. Children are the best questioners because of their intense, innate curiosity. However, questions are too often overlooked, especially in education systems, and as school starts becoming more rigorous and test-based, young children’s curiosity starts to fade. By shutting down questions, we shut down the possibility for change. Meaningful questions should challenge assumptions, push boundaries, and promote curiosity. Questions expose vulnerability and attack deeply held beliefs to achieve reform in society and spark innovation, ideas which are evident from the other readings as well. My concept map elucidates the connections between these ideas while asking my own questions as well.
My concept map illustrates how the profound ideas embedded in the various texts challenge deeply accepted ideas to uncover new truths and achieve change. It brings together the philosophical questions presented by the authors and analyzes the key purpose: social change. The powerful ideas of identity, curiosity, art, culture, and criticism allow us to progress and push the boundaries of innovation. All of these ideas connect in intricate ways, and I hope my concept map encapsulates the complexity and harmony with which they function. Understanding how these themes connect can help us better understand our roles in society as artists, questioners, and critics of the world.
In Better Living Through Criticism, A. O. Scott illustrates the social power of criticism. Scott uncovers how art, taste, and criticism are all necessary parts of an evolving society. Criticism is a form of challenging or affirming beliefs to enact social change, and because of criticism, society is constantly changing and amending itself to new beliefs. A critic challenges conventional ways of thinking in order to enact change or make a difference. Not only does this impact art, but it is essential for societal progression and allows us to adapt, evolve, challenge and confirm ways of thinking and systems of beliefs.
Similarly, Renaissance Self-Fashioning by Stephen Greenblatt reveals how literature is a reflection of morals and society and often serves as an expression of social rules and instructions. Like art, literature has the power to move people, create intimacy, and build connections, and is a reflection of the criticism which shapes society. Literature influences the process of self-fashioning, which refers to constructing and shaping one’s identity through changes in character, perception, and behavior. Historical literature can reveal deeper cultural patterns and structures of power, and is the key to understanding history. Art and literature are both vital for social progression as they shape society, bring people together, and allow us to view deeper connections. My concept map visually demonstrates these thematic connections between the texts.
Warren Berger discusses similar themes in A More Beautiful Question, where he highlights the importance of asking meaningful questions. Questioning is simply organizing our thinking around what we do not know, and is just as fundamental to society as the themes of art, criticism, and literature discussed in the other texts. Investigating accepted systems of beliefs through questioning is a catalyst for progression, as questions are the starting point to innovation and can lead to revolutionary change, including the invention of the Polaroid camera. Children are the best questioners because of their intense, innate curiosity. However, questions are too often overlooked, especially in education systems, and as school starts becoming more rigorous and test-based, young children’s curiosity starts to fade. By shutting down questions, we shut down the possibility for change. Meaningful questions should challenge assumptions, push boundaries, and promote curiosity. Questions expose vulnerability and attack deeply held beliefs to achieve reform in society and spark innovation, ideas which are evident from the other readings as well. My concept map elucidates the connections between these ideas while asking my own questions as well.
My concept map illustrates how the profound ideas embedded in the various texts challenge deeply accepted ideas to uncover new truths and achieve change. It brings together the philosophical questions presented by the authors and analyzes the key purpose: social change. The powerful ideas of identity, curiosity, art, culture, and criticism allow us to progress and push the boundaries of innovation. All of these ideas connect in intricate ways, and I hope my concept map encapsulates the complexity and harmony with which they function. Understanding how these themes connect can help us better understand our roles in society as artists, questioners, and critics of the world.
Cover Letter of Brain Pickings Rhetorical Analysis
Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings are profound online analysis of culture, books, and philosophy. Her blogs examine the complex relationships between art, emotion and culture in engaging ways for the reader and provide valuable, fresh insight. In addition to eloquent, expressive language, Popova uses historical quotes and vivid imagery to deepen the reader’s understanding of the text. In her blog Leo Tolstoy on Kindness and the Measure of Love, she delves into the meaning of kindness and the importance of integrating it into every aspect of life. In Do You See What I See? A Poetic Vintage Art-Science Primer on the Building Blocks of the Perceptual World, she uses vivid, colorful drawings to express ideas about creativity and perception of the world through lines, shapes, and colors. In my essay, I described the visual, intellectual and rhetorical skills Popova uses to have a meaningful conversation with her readers. I also explained how she artfully weaves in quotes to add historical context and credibility to her pieces, and I hope to employ similar tactics in my own writing throughout the year as I navigate through philosophical texts and concepts.
Brain Pickings Rhetorical Analysis
Maria Popova’s writing style is characterized by philosophical discussion of the human condition, insightful quotes, and visual manifestations of her thoughts through images and illustrations. Popova’s writing is able to capture her beliefs and opinions, as well as the ideas of the authors and historical figures she discusses. All of her posts share philosophical themes of art, culture, and humanity, and provoke the reader to form their own insights. These unique rhetorical strategies can all be found in her blog Leo Tolstoy on Kindness and the Measure of Love.
Popova’s pieces pull quotes from influential figures that strengthen her arguments and ideas. For example, in her article about the meaning of kindness, she uses quotes from Leo Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, a book comprised of daily quotes to guide one’s life to moral ideality and sensibility through. This adds to her discussion of the meaning of kindness and provides historical wisdom. She employ direct quotes from the author to give the reader a deeper understanding of the ideas in her blog through the original voice. By quoting a famous philosopher, this adds historical context to her writing. Using his quotes helps express the relationships between art and the social complexities of culture in ways she felt could not be states better. While it is important to share your own voice, sharing the voice of the original author can capture important thoughts that are difficult to accurately restate.
Popova’s pieces engage in philosophical discussions of art, humanity, culture, and emotion. Popova’s work on Leo Tolstoy serves as an emotional reflection on kindness and the human condition at large, discussing how integrating kindness into every aspect of our lives can enrich our moral development and wisdom. It forms connections to art, specifically how art capture and heal pain and has the capacity to create intimacy. Popova captures the range of emotions that art can invoke and the profound impact art has on humanity. She discusses the idea of beauty and taste and how art is an engine for social change. She also encourages the reader to treat everyone with kindness and consider what gives their lives meaning. Popova leaves the reader which philosophical ideas about their own lives and humanity as a whole.
Additionally, Popova uses images and drawings to express her thoughts visually. In her discussion of Leo Tolstoy and kindness, she provides descriptive images to make the reading experience more vivid. This gives the reader a visual understanding of her ideas as they read the blogs. Using vivid, colorful drawings to express ideas about creativity and perception of the world, her carefully chosen photos and drawings encapsulate her ideas into visual representations to enhance the reader’s understanding of her writing. They transform her abstract, philosophical ideas into something the reader can see, making it more digestible.
Popova combines all of these tactics in her writing to give the reader much more than just a blog; she presents them with with a visceral, artistic exploration of art, culture, and humanity to help them discover new truths about themselves and the world around them. The distinctly Popova rhetorical strategies in Leo Tolstoy on Kindness and the Measure of Love uses give the reader a deeper understanding of kindness and drives them to consider larger ideas about humanity and emotion. I hope to employ similar tactics to these in my own writing throughout the year as I navigate through philosophical texts and concepts.
Popova’s pieces pull quotes from influential figures that strengthen her arguments and ideas. For example, in her article about the meaning of kindness, she uses quotes from Leo Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, a book comprised of daily quotes to guide one’s life to moral ideality and sensibility through. This adds to her discussion of the meaning of kindness and provides historical wisdom. She employ direct quotes from the author to give the reader a deeper understanding of the ideas in her blog through the original voice. By quoting a famous philosopher, this adds historical context to her writing. Using his quotes helps express the relationships between art and the social complexities of culture in ways she felt could not be states better. While it is important to share your own voice, sharing the voice of the original author can capture important thoughts that are difficult to accurately restate.
Popova’s pieces engage in philosophical discussions of art, humanity, culture, and emotion. Popova’s work on Leo Tolstoy serves as an emotional reflection on kindness and the human condition at large, discussing how integrating kindness into every aspect of our lives can enrich our moral development and wisdom. It forms connections to art, specifically how art capture and heal pain and has the capacity to create intimacy. Popova captures the range of emotions that art can invoke and the profound impact art has on humanity. She discusses the idea of beauty and taste and how art is an engine for social change. She also encourages the reader to treat everyone with kindness and consider what gives their lives meaning. Popova leaves the reader which philosophical ideas about their own lives and humanity as a whole.
Additionally, Popova uses images and drawings to express her thoughts visually. In her discussion of Leo Tolstoy and kindness, she provides descriptive images to make the reading experience more vivid. This gives the reader a visual understanding of her ideas as they read the blogs. Using vivid, colorful drawings to express ideas about creativity and perception of the world, her carefully chosen photos and drawings encapsulate her ideas into visual representations to enhance the reader’s understanding of her writing. They transform her abstract, philosophical ideas into something the reader can see, making it more digestible.
Popova combines all of these tactics in her writing to give the reader much more than just a blog; she presents them with with a visceral, artistic exploration of art, culture, and humanity to help them discover new truths about themselves and the world around them. The distinctly Popova rhetorical strategies in Leo Tolstoy on Kindness and the Measure of Love uses give the reader a deeper understanding of kindness and drives them to consider larger ideas about humanity and emotion. I hope to employ similar tactics to these in my own writing throughout the year as I navigate through philosophical texts and concepts.