dennis scharnberg

end sense

Andrew Tertullian, Pandora’s Ponderous Puns.

“Well, Franklin, I do think that I made a small mistake.”

“How small?”

“Very small. Miniscule, I’d say. Trifling. Piddling, actually. A mere particle of a mistake.”

Charles Jeffrey Yett, Writing in Miniature—Vol. Three.

We engage with matter foolishly.

Godfrey Tooke, Collected Aphorisms.

The critic is stating the obvious, but does this as though he is actually noticing something. That is the grift. Like when Kenneth Clark exhorts us to “accept” the notion that the Arena Chapel frescoes are immensely important.

Nelson Poindexter, Corpuscular Aesthetics.

“I am a poet, sir. Do I write poems? No. I contemplate writing poetry. I think about it long and hard. And then I say, ‘No’. In no uncertain terms. The word is No.”

Crosby Fields, A Reasonable Amount of Trouble.

We fail to give sufficient scope to the word illusion.

Godfrey Tooke, Collected Aphorisms.

haul of fame

Andrew Tertullian, Pandora’s Ponderous Puns.

It is a commonplace to suggest that Georges de la Tour was influenced by Caravaggio. But in such claims the word “influence” should be a measure of susceptibility.

Nelson Poindexter, Corpuscular Aesthetics.

It takes a great effort to see the culture as the sales pitch that it is.

Nelson Poindexter, Corpuscular Aesthetics.

“Well, I would like to become more sophisticated,” confessed Allyn. “Like all those artists over in the WB.”

Adrian Caliban, The Magnificent Egglestons.