November 28, 2007
Metaphor
Edward Albee came to our town last night to lecture at the prestigious university down the street. The vice-chancellor for public relations introduced him and warned us in case we did not remember how controversial he is. Albee has won three Pulitzers and tied Eugene O’Neill in the process. His lack of the customary arrogance one comes to expect from the likes of him was utterly disarming. He did say that he hoped we’d attend his plays whenever possible, because if they were offensive, we could walk out, that if we never came, we’d never have the opportunity to walk out.
He talked about being born in Virginia, adopted, then as a babe moved to Washington, DC. He said that he did not know he was adopted until he was six years old, but that he was relieved to find out he was not kin to his parents because they seemed to be somewhat to the right of Atilla the Hun. They did try, he said, to see that he got a good education. He talked about the schools he got kicked out of, how he never finished college, that somehow, the “required courses” were never the courses he required. He said that he became a distinguished full professor of the arts at a large university, anyway.
He warned any creationists in the audience that we are animals along with all the other animals. He said that what makes us different is that we make art and we make metaphor, and that we know we do. He said that too few of us know anything about art and government. Art shows us who we are, and government shows us what we can do together about who we are. He said that so long as we have a democracy, we’d best learn how to use it or we’ll not have it for long, like nowadays. He said that we no longer have a working class, that what was once a working class was by political ploy made into what is now the more manipulatable middle class, and that this has affected our democracy negatively.
He did not say that just because we can make metaphor, therefore, we do, because we don’t. But I wish he had, because I will. I believe one of the gravest problems we face is the way metaphor is slipping away from us by our own doing. It’s a western culture thing. Without metaphor, we’ll then be without art, without art, we’ll never know who we are, democracy will go down the chute, and we’ll make a farce of religion and its Bible (which we’re swiftly doing, anyhow).
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Thanks for bringing this side of Albee out into the open. My friend (who unwittingly, I think, exposed your blog to me) and I have a running joke about metaphor usage in the Bible.
Your thoughts are wonderful to read, as I browsed into your earlier days’ blog offerings. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us.
Comment by Jim — November 28, 2007 @ 11:32 am