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April 06, 2006
Mary Shelley on invention (with hybrid reference to Oprah Winfrey)...
"Every thing must have a beginning, to speak in Sanchean phrase; and that beginning must be linked to something that went before. The Hindoos give the world an elephant to support it, but they make the elephant stand upon a tortoise. Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of the void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring into being the substance itself. In all matters of discovery and invention, even of those that appertain to the imagination, we are continually reminded of the story of Columbus and his egg. Invention consists in the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject, and in the power of moulding and fashioning ideas suggested to it."
From the introduction to Frankenstein... complete annotated text is reproduced online here.
I liked the idea that I could write this thesis in a monstrous style, half horror story - half self-help manual... kind of, Mary Shelley meets Oprah Winfrey... prophetic and evangelical, both romantic and spooky. But I'm not sure I'm a good enough writer to do that. (Oprah's website is worth checking out by the way)
One thing is clear though, the writing and production of the thesis should be seen as a 'project' within the research.
Posted by Luke Wood at April 6, 2006 03:58 AM
Comments
absolutely luke
why else would you do it?
as we have discussed before... the challenge is to write/create the text as a design excercise. of course this opens up a whole area of discussion (and one of the MDes student's project on the connections between writing, literature and the acts of design)...
and as you know this is more than about surface design - how easy would that be - it is about designing and articulating the experience of design and practice.
how does/can the form of your submission be what it is that you are discussing and articulating...
a challenge.
laurene
Posted by: laurene at April 11, 2006 11:38 AM