In many ways, modern society pushes us to become highly trained specialists. Fortunately, some individuals have the mental capacity and imagination to gain expertise in a number of the arts and sciences. Jacob Bronowski from the 1970s PBS broadcast The Ascent of Man was one such individual - mathematician, physicist, playwright, poet, philosopher - my goodness, what a renaissance man! In this collection of twelve enlightening essays, Bronowski turns his attention to the field of literature, art and aesthetics. Below are several highlights along with my observations:

Bronowski gives us to understand our human capacity to work with language is a universe beyond the language of other animals. For example, the bee will do a dance back at the hive to communicate to the other bees the direction and distance of the location of honey. The author writes: "On the other hand, human language goes beyond these words of communication, and uses words also in order to formulate ideas inside our minds. We reflect on our own ideas, we change them and enlarge them, and they carry our personal associations for us. It is words in this sense which are the vehicles of our imagination, and the raw material of literature." It is this facility to picture things and events not present to our immediate sensory experience that is critical in our development of what it means to be human.

His next observation is how we as humans work with words and other symbols present in the mind. We read: "The function of words in human thought is to stand for things which are no present to the senses, and to allow the mind to manipulate them - things, concepts, ideas, everything which does not have a physical reality in front of us now." It is this human ability to imagine thousands of possible situations in the mind's eye that is the foundation of literature and art.

The author goes on to relate how this aptitude to imagine leads to freedom in two ways: 1) the sheer pleasure we experience in exploring various possibilities, and 2) our imaginings as entirely personal, that is, no two people share exactly the same picturing of images. For Bronowski, what follows is that any work of art, a poem, for example, is infinitely rich in meaning since each of us will make, via imagination, picturing and playing with language, our very own personal poem from what we read on the page.

In another essay, the author notes that literature and art move us deeply because we recognize a part of ourselves in the work. And this, Bronowski says, “is the sense of kinship with humanity as a whole which art communicates.” I have had this experience many times reading novels – for example, while reading Dostoyevsky’s The House of the Dead years ago, I recall living through the narrator’s day-to-day grinding dehumanization.

One final Bronowski reflection: A work of art does not exist for us unless we also recreate it for ourselves. In other words, if we go to a museum or theater or cinema, we have to be open and be willing to engage with the work we encounter. Certainly there is a risk involved – we might be affected or even changed in ways we did not anticipate, but this is what is required if we are to participate in the artist’s creative imagination.

If you sense a freshness in Bronowski's approach to art and aesthetics, you are correct. Although there are many individual poets and artists noted, along with 48 black-and-white illustrations, there are no philosophers referenced. The author is not interested in a highly abstract or conceptual investigation on the nature of beauty; rather, Bronowski's primary question is: "What prompts people to make something which seems beautiful, to them or to others?" Using this practical question as his starting point, the author brings to bear his wealth of background in such fields as mathematics, biology, physics, poetry, theater, and history.

Coda: One thing we as humans are doing better at nowadays then fifty years ago is doing away with much sexist language. Case in point - the above quote by the author would be better expressed as "men and women" rather than men! However, I personally love this quote and think it is the key to a full, beautiful life: find what you are good at and do it again and again, continually becoming better at your chosen form of art.



A work by 19th century Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky ( )

In many ways, modern society pushes us to become highly trained specialists. Fortunately, some individuals have the mental capacity and imagination to gain expertise in a number of the arts and sciences. Mathematician/physicist/playwright/poet Jacob Bronowski (from the 1970s broadcast `The Ascent of Man') was one such individual. In this collection of 12 enlightening essays, Bronowski turns his attention to the field of literature, art and aesthetics. Below are several highlights along with my observations:

Bronowski gives us to understand our human capacity to work with language is a universe beyond the language of other animals. For example, the bee will do a dance back at the hive to communicate to the other bees the direction and distance of the location of honey. The author writes: "On the other hand, human language goes beyond these words of communication, and uses words also in order to formulate ideas inside our minds. We reflect on our own ideas, we change them and enlarge them, and they carry our personal associations for us. It is words in this sense which are the vehicles of our imagination, and the raw material of literature." It is this facility to picture things and events not present to our immediate sensory experience that is critical in our development of what it means to be human.

His next observation is how we as humans work with words and other symbols present in the mind. We read: "The function of words in human thought is to stand for things which are no present to the senses, and to allow the mind to manipulate them - things, concepts, ideas, everything which does not have a physical reality in front of us now." It is this human ability to imagine thousands of possible situations in the mind's eye that is the foundation of literature and art.

The author goes on to relate how this aptitude to imagine leads to freedom in two ways: 1) the sheer pleasure we experience in exploring various possibilities, and 2) our imaginings as entirely personal, that is, no two people share exactly the same picturing of images. For Bronowski, what follows is that any work of art, a poem, for example, is infinitely rich in meaning since each of us will make, via imagination, picturing and playing with language, our very own personal poem from what we read on the page.

In another essay, the author notes that literature and art move us deeply because we recognize a part of ourselves in the work. And this, Bronowski says, “is the sense of kinship with humanity as a whole which art communicates.” I have had this experience many times reading novels – for example, while reading Dostoyevsky’s ‘The House of the Dead’ years ago, I recall living through the narrator’s day-to-day grinding dehumanization.

One final Bronowski reflection: A work of art does not exist for us unless we also recreate it for ourselves. In other words, if we go to a museum or theater or cinema, we have to be open and be willing to engage with the work we encounter. Certainly there is a risk involved – we might be affected or even changed in ways we did not anticipate, but this is what is required if we are to participate in the artist’s creative imagination.

If you sense a freshness in Bronowski's approach to art and aesthetics, you are correct. Although there are many individual poets and artists noted, along with 48 black-and-white illustrations, there are no philosophers referenced. The author is not interested in a highly abstract or conceptual investigation on the nature of beauty; rather, Bronowski's primary question is: "What prompts people to make something which seems beautiful, to them or to others?" Using this practical question as his starting point, the author brings to bear his wealth of background in such fields as mathematics, biology, physics, poetry, theater, and history.



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Best book I've ever read on the meaning of art. ( )