Scientists do stand on the shoulders of giants, just as do writers. Conversely, in the arts we do make discoveries. We do refine our tools. So I am arguing with, or at least playing with, the idea that art never improves.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that both scientists and artists build upon the knowledge and achievements of those who came before them, though art may not improve in a linear fashion.
Ian McEwan's quote reflects on the interconnectedness of knowledge across disciplines, emphasizing that both science and art rely on the foundations laid by previous thinkers and creators. While scientific progress builds incrementally on past discoveries, McEwan provocatively suggests that the evolution of art may not adhere to a similar trajectory of improvement, inviting reflection on the nature of creativity and innovation in artistic endeavors.
In practice
During a seminar on creativity, one might quote McEwan to emphasize the importance of historical influences in art.
Watching him during the first several minutes of his delivery, Cecilia felt a pleasant sinking sensation in her stomach as she contemplated how deliciously self-destructive it would be, almost erotic, to be married to a man so nearly handsome, so hugely rich, so unfathomably stupid. He would fill her with his big-faced children, all of them loud, boneheaded boys with a passion for guns and football and aeroplanes.
My needs were simple I didn't bother much with themes or felicitous phrases and skipped fine descriptions of weather, landscapes and interiors. I wanted characters I could believe in, and I wanted to be made curious about what was to happen to them. Generally, I preferred people to be falling in and out of love, but I didn't mind so much if they tried their hand at something else. It was vulgar to want it, but I liked someone to say 'Marry me' by the end.
It marked the beginning and, of course, an end. At that moment a chapter, no, a whole stage of my closed. Had I known, and had there been a spare second or two, I might have allowed myself a little nostalgia.
There are ways in which art can have a longer reach than politics.
And now she was back in the world, not one she could make, but the one that had made her, and she felt herself shrinking under the early evening sky. She was weary of being outdoors, but she was not ready to go in. Was that really all there was in life, indoors or out? Wasn't there somewhere else for people to go?
Imagining what it is like to be someone other than yourself is at the core of our humanity. It is the essence of compassion, and it is the beginning of morality.
But I think that the spirit of protectionism would be the grave of European cinema. You cannot protect something by building a fence around it and thinking that this will help it survive.
Acting is not about being someone different. It's finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.
I think classical ballet dancers dance on pointe because they're simultaneously touching the earth and reaching up to the skies
Wanting to play the guitar was neither a wild dream nor a realistic ambition. It was simply inevitable.
If you already have a piece of music ingrained in your body, why would you not play it?
I have been given a lot of roles that are downtrodden, mammy-ish. A lot of lawyers or doctors who have names but absolutely no lives. You're going to get your three or four scenes; you're not going to be able to show what you can do.
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