Entries Tagged as 'picasso'

Note-taking for Lord Jim (Wk 7): Overall Summary

October 2, 2009 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

Topic of Class Week 7’s class focused mainly on the questioning of a singular perspective (whether of Marlow’s viewpoint in Lord Jim or Alfred Russel Wallace’s views in his scientific travel book The Malay Archipelago), highlighting how the methods employed (written and oral narrative or empirical evidence) resulted in an effect on the reader’s perception [...]

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Achebe’s Heart of Anger and the Ethics of Re-Appropriation

September 9, 2009 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

When I read Achebe’s essay, I was struck by his strong desire to make us (Westerners, colonizers, outsiders) view Africa as something other than commodity, colony and “the other” foreign land/culture. As a fan of Things Fall Apart,  I am interested in what fellow colonial/postcolonial writers have to say about each others’ works, but I [...]

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Of embracing fear and the crisis of representation

August 20, 2009 · 1 Comment · General Thoughts on Modernism

Embracing Fear What strikes me about Levine’s “Ruling the Empire” and Gikandi’s “Picasso, Africa, and the Schemata of Difference” is the fear of natives and their possible influence on the West. Fear of the alleged savagery and lack of civilization of these “lesser peoples” (Levine 105) form part of the basis for the West’s civilizing [...]

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On modernism

August 20, 2009 · 1 Comment · General Thoughts on Modernism

In general, the works that emerged out of the period reflect a radical breakaway from traditional methods of representation. There is no longer a fixed center, perspective or meaning to be found, let alone a proper solution or closure to the proposed issues, hence Auerbach’s suggestion that “there is often something confusing…hazy about them, something [...]

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Thoughts on Gikandi’s reading

August 20, 2009 · 2 Comments · General Thoughts on Modernism

The Gikandi reading was interesting as I for one have long regarded Picasso as the grandfather of modern art but now, I have my doubts. The first thing that came to my mind was the question of plagiarism. I mean, Picasso didn’t exactly credit the Africans for “borrowing” their pieces of cultural artifacts and instead, [...]

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