Recursion

                                                                   Recursion

Last October during a visit to my sister's place, I was intrigued by a new coffee-table size art book,  Stuart Davis, In Full Swing. It was prominent on top of a pile of other impressive books, drawings and photographs. Elena is good friends with Davis's son Earl and had gotten the book as a gift. Having decided I had to have a copy, and rather than trying to wheedle one for free, (hateful practice), I did the right thing. I bought it on Amazon. One gold star for me, and another buck-fifty for Jeff Bezos.

 What strikes me having gotten a little into the text, (there's lots of text even with the multitude of reproductions), is the importance of recursion in his work. This, I take it, from the history given in the first chapter, could well have been at least influenced by his reading in philosophy, which was urged on him by his teacher, Robert Henri. Recursion, the repetition of patterns, is important in the thinking of Kant and Hegel, two philosophers I've been slowly learning more about as I  make my way through Iris Murdoch's Metaphysics and Morals.

 Henri, an Ashcan School painter, insisted that his students read philosophy and history, A good idea it seems to me, and obvious, once I see it in print, but not so, before. Thank you, writer of said chapter, Harry Cooper.

Recursion; thought for the day?  Idea of the month?  We'll have to see.

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Next day, while eating a bowl of chili for lunch, I'm leafing through a book of Saul Steinberg's, The Inspector. The first dozen or so drawings are recursive; line drawings of Steinberg characters marching with their two dimensional selves repeated with lines repeating back toward, but not to, infinity. Infinity is a separate subject, and I don't see Steinberg grappling with that. Maybe I just haven't seen it yet.

Seeing is what it's all about, as far as that goes; recursion is something that is perceived. It's a big part of what reality is made up of. You can see that at Lego Land!

Should I say that for the past year I've been sneak-peaking at Chris Langan's CTMU?  No? Too risky?

 

What am I Reading?

12/24/2017

Well I've been re-reading Robert Anton Wilson's Quantum Psychology and his Prometheus Rising.  Really kind of Intellectual candy, from my perspective. Even though he comes down on the Wrong side, politically. Anyway, he's dead, I think, so I'm not hurting his feelings.

Also, a translation of Mayakovsky poems entitled Backbone Flute.....and The World of Yesterday, by Stefan Zweig..., Introducing Logic, a Graphic Guide, by Cryan, Shatil and Mayblin;  Saint-Exupery, by Stacy Schiff....The Book of Mules, by Donna Campbell Smith;  Algebra for The Terrified, by Kenneth Williams, (and also by Kenneth Williams, his How to Really Calculate in Your Head, which improved my calculating ability so much I can hardly believe it and for which I am grateful to Mr. Williams), and a few other things that are either too quirky or too low-brow to admit to, since I'm so vain. (I suppose everything I read or do could be thought of as quirky and low-brow, but that's for another discussion..)

Also, in recent history I've read several books by Libbie Hawker, including Mercer Girls, Tidewater, and Baptism for the Dead.  Hawker is someone I discovered while trying to veer away from the NY literary Mafia.

Oh, and The Bohemians, by Ben Tarnoff, a nice book.

To Be Continued:...............