In a recent opinion essay in the New York Times David Brooks suggested that Donald Trump is better understood as an entertainer than as a politician. That explains a lot, I think, but also makes me wonder how many other aspects of our life have come to be thought of as entertainment, and judged accordingly. College lecturing, for example? Classical music, especially the sonata and the symphony? These were not, I believe, composed to amuse or pass the time, but as ways of exploring emotions that could not otherwise be given voice.
And what about Greek tragedy? If we bring to it expectations of entertainment, we are sorely disappointed. Better to think of it as a way of exploring certain states of mind, extreme ones, intense ones, perhaps even terrifying ones, but only rarely amusing ones.
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Westport Island, Maine
August 28, 2023
And what about Greek tragedy? If we bring to it expectations of entertainment, we are sorely disappointed. Better to think of it as a way of exploring certain states of mind, extreme ones, intense ones, perhaps even terrifying ones, but only rarely amusing ones.
--
Westport Island, Maine
August 28, 2023