Clifford Truesdell was another one...I actually know someone who met him. She claims she was "not impressed". I bet the feeling was mutual. He was gone in 2000. I remember stumbling upon the news, a small reference somewhere. I felt a beautiful part of the world had crumbled before I had spotted it. Some sport news of the day had a bigger share of the same page.
Or Julian Jaynes, gone in 1997, author of "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind", a book titled obviously and deliciously without any help of an advertisement department. Academia received it badly, apparently, as it was too controversial and academia hates anything that does not fit into a grant request. Also, it was actually a great read for the non-specialist, which is a crime these days. A book of such wonderful audacity that I will love it forever even if it is utterly wrong in its bold claims. That would merely transform it into epic poetry of the highest caliber.
Or Robert Beverly Hale...Some people walk around with the memories of his lectures on artistic anatomy...Lucky bastards...I can only dream of a videotape...
Or...so many others...
Obituaries are a wonderful, sad thing. Following up on the names above can change your life...each one of them changed mine a great deal. I invoke each one as one would an ancient incantation. I just wish I could meet some live oracles for a change...My personal Delphi is getting too full of ghosts for my taste...
No comments:
Post a Comment