Stephen Greenblatt: Can Art Be Universal?

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[adenipx]

"if the poem works - as it does for me -..." this is the greatest line of the video. This line is a thesis, an admittance of subjectivity (the whole point of the video), yet, it is also an assertion. Very well crafted. Very good vlog

[makro]

1. what is universality? is it something that can be common for all kinds of creatures in different times throughout history? does that mean that there are several "stages" of universality?
2. you can't know if something is universal because you cannot know if the art will be interpreted the same way in the future as it has been now (in our time).

[Kababaza]

There are numerous methods for expressions of art, each is used in a way it can communicate x, y or x&y emotions with more efficiency according to its master and his proposal. Because you can't -or shouldn't?- taste a sculpture, it doesn't mean it can't stimulate your imagination into perceiving a taste, or whatever sensation. I see no limit there; perhaps literal, physical an technical yes, but the human mind has the ability to recreate or remember sensations. Art is a relation.

[j]

This kinda goes hand in hand with the ("Write what you know"-Nathan England on misunderstood advice) video. The things that are universal are the things someone else can or has already experienced such as emotions as said in the other video.

[urhvn]

There may be a misunderstanding.
Taking DaVinci's Last Supper in relation to Greenblatt's perception of universality in art; I believe Greenblatt's "mobility" is metaphorically referring to the art piece's message.
We see the painting, then a perception of what the painting conveys is created in our minds that form our opinions.
The reason why we have an "idea" of how to restore art works is purely down to the effectiveness of the painter's message, making the piece timeless and 'mobile'.

[PoetlaureateNFDL]

Genuine genius here I think. Universality of art is a cool concept. I like how great writing can communicate across the centuries, making that special connection with many. I like that I can read the late John Updike and be transported because of the way he paints pictures with words, that is true magic to me, that it can cross so many barriers and is mobile and penetrates in such interesting ways.

[urhvn]

"Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? He's a mile away and you've got his shoes."

[insidetrip]

Interesting... mobility? Wouldn't mobility just be another word for "universal", since what he seems to be saying is that there is a possibility to "move" past its original time and space?

[makro]

his thesis didnt suggest that art isnt universal, I think he was more focused on bringing the "mobility" of the art into the picture. Instead of calling the art universal, he suggest that we should rather consider its mobilty
(the ability to give us the same emotions, do the same interpretations no matter where or what time you are from.)
In your example on the last supper or the ceiling, i agree that its something that clearly speaks to us, it means that the "authors" thought or "mindset"....

[boburanus]

Um, even though literature is written from a certain time period in human history, the time periods are so small in comparison to evolutionary scales that humanity is still the same as it ever was. We still have all the same issues we did back then, and we will always have those issues.

That's why you can read literature from a thousand years ago and still draw from it the same understanding that you would have back then.

[GianfrancoFronzi]

Mr. Greenblatt, made that poem work for anyone fluent in english .

[ollytreen]

This guys is one of the world's leading literary critics, and one of the principle members of the historicist critical movement. He can do much more than quote poetry.

[purv]

That's what any good art does. It takes the local and makes it seem universal.

[insidetrip]

I actually find that "visual art" and Literature are fundamentally grounded in the same critical theories. So I think you can probably link this to visual art and its criticism some how. It is the difference in craft, type of skill, and what is produced that sets them apart, but the fundamental aesthetics seem to remain the same.

[makro]

it doesnt have to be an issue for anyone for it to be an issue.. if you think about it enough :3 He speaks of the mobility of the art as a "replacement" for universality. The message it gives us through time is (based on how precise we can interpret it) is an index of its mobility. Not universality. If the art was universal it would have to be able to give the same message to us is it would give to ppl living in.. say year 2778, something which brings me to two other problems

[creepy]

I had to watch this because his book is sitting just inches away from me. Coincidence is a mysterious woman.

[Kababaza]

Art is always open to "misinterpretation" as could be a perfected dish. However, this is sometimes -if not always- a side effect, due to associating a piece with one's own experience, ideals, perspective... Art isn't always or necessarily what the creator wants to express; it can equally be a personal experience between whatever piece and its observer; as good or as bad of an experience. Which makes it universal; its not a concrete message; its a mirror or a door to thousands of interpretations.

[purv]

@warmaker911 I agree. Though I think he meant art in general; he just approached it from his field of study.

[DeathGn]

When art is considered universal it is because certain factors of it are applicable on different people in different times and places. Nobody ever claimed that the so called timeless/universal pieces of art remain exactly the same, just that they don't lose power in that they are applicable in a different way to people but remain as effective. You really didn't make a point in this video unless i'm misunderstanding. Sounds to me like you just wanted to show of that you memorized some poetry

[HaploidCell]

Maybe we need to rethink how we think about ourselves. *Again*.
Maybe there is no one, unified "self", but rather a multitude of consciousnesses in every brain that rule through some common law of cooperation.
I'm just starting to think about this, but maybe that's why we're this good at imagining two things at the same time and are able to hold & understand different positions and chains of argument on the fly.