"What seems beautiful to me, what I should like to write, is a book about nothing, a book dependent on nothing external, which would be held together by the strength of its styles, just as the earth, suspended in the void, depends on nothing external for its support; a book which would have almost no subject, or at least in which the subject would be almost invisible, if such a think is possible. The finest works are those that contain the least matter; the closer expression comes to thought, the closer language comes to coinciding and merging with it, the finer the result. I believe that the future of Art lies in this direction...It is for this reason that there are no noble subjects or ignoble subjects; from the standpoint of pure Art one might almost establish the axiom that there is no such thing as subject, style in itself being an absolute manner of seeing things."
Gustav Flaubert
Flaubert's idea that a novel could have merit based solely on its style or structure was revolutionary and was not rapidly adopted by other writers. Painters, photographers, and composers have continued (to this day) to craft works that are content heavy and that rely more on the 'what' rather than the 'how.'
This blog is designed for viewers to view/read/absorb works of art and then to decide whether the 'how' outweighs the 'what' or vice versa. Students read a literary work or a visual/musical composition, analyze it, and then write a 300-500 word response arguing for the superiority of either the structure (design) or content (plot/message).
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