The challenge for a nonfiction writer is to achieve a poetic precision using the documents of truth but somehow to make people and places spring to life as if the reader was in their presence.
Simon SchamaRead
The default mode of modern writing about art is to despise any notion of singularity as so much overheated genius-fetishism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the prevailing trend in contemporary writing about art to reject the idea of individual genius.
In this quote, Simon Schama addresses the contemporary tendency in art criticism to dismiss the concept of singular artistic genius as merely an exaggerated form of fetishism. He suggests that modern discourse often overlooks the value of singular creativity in favor of a more collective or relativistic understanding of art, thereby undermining the appreciation of individual contributions and unique perspectives that shape artistic expression.
Themes
Modern WritingArtSingularityGeniusCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote during a panel discussion on contemporary art criticism to challenge conventional views.
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History is admirably dangerous. It is not the soft option. Teachers need to be grown up and brave. Sensitivity is fine, but it stops at the door of honest narrative.
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History gives you insight of the same quality of truth as poetry or philosophy or a novel.
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