Magic Lantern
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Cat Pagano - Bluets
As a whole, this book is like none I have ever read before. The way it is partitioned into so many short paragraphs seemed to be quite confusing to me but as I continued to read, it began to become more clear. From my interpretation, Maggie Nelson's goal for this piece is to summarize and discover her definition and conceptualization of the color blue. It is uncertain as to whether Nelson began writing the book with a known definition of the color or whether she is writing the book to find out. Regardless, there is one section that speaks to the overall Bluets project -- part 52. This story in particular contains a series of questions which I believe do a good job at outlining Nelson's investigation. When Nelson asks her reader, "what is the color of a puddle? Is your blue sofa still blue when you stumble past it on your way to the kitchen for water in the middle of the night; is it still blue if you don't get up, and no one enters the room to see it?" I believe that she is also asking herself the same questions. By asking her readers these questions, perhaps she herself is finding the answers. I am curious to see if a conclusion is ever reached about the color blue and if my hypothesis about the project of the book is correct.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
For the second half of the book, I thought that passage 167 had a very interesting message. She gives us one, of many, explanations for her obsession with the color blue. Unlike other forms art (i.e. theater, movies), which aim to mirror it's audience, for Nelson, "blue-ness" cannot totally relate to her or anyone else. This adds depth and meaning to blue, something that other things in her life cannot. I have never thought about media in this way. My project has to do with music and what it means to me, so I think I could play with the idea subjective importance.
ReplyDelete