"James Joyce, in the person of Stephen Dedalus, made a now famous
distinction between static and kinetic art.
Great art is static in its effects; it exists in itself, it demands
nothing beyond itself. Kinetic art exists in order to demand; not
self-contained, it requires either loathing or desire to achieve its
function. The quarrel about the fourth book of Gulliver's Travels that continues to bubble among scholars -- was Swift's loathing of men
so great, so hot, so far beyond the bounds of all propriety and
objectivity that in this book he may make us loathe them and indubitably
makes us loathe his imagination? -- is really a quarrel founded on this
distinction.
It has always seemed to the present writer that the fourth book of Gulliver's Travels is a great work of static art; no less, it would
seem to
him that George Orwell's new novel,
Nineteen Eighty-Four,
is a great work of kinetic art. This may mean that its greatness is
only immediate, its power for us alone, now, in this generation, this
decade, this year, that it is doomed to be the pawn of time.
Nevertheless it is probable that no other work of this generation has
made us desire freedom more earnestly or loathe tyranny with such
fullness."
As we read, keep in mind this question of static versus kinetic art ...
After reading pages 3-31, post your first reactions to the novel. Remember, your posts must be written in complete sentences.
