Authorial Intent

            One thing great about not having cats anymore is that I can take off my clothes and toss them on the floor beside the futon when I go to bed. But I was startled when I got up on Wednesday morning because my bunched up pants looked like a cat that was sitting there and watching me.

            I waited until 7:30 on Wednesday, October 5^th to start getting the place ready for the exterminator. I only prepared the bathroom and the stove for cockroach treatment and the bedroom for an inspection to see if I have bedbugs again. Part of my preparations involved getting rid of the kitty litter in the litter box and cleaning the plastic bin that is no longer needed as a litter box. I still had quite a bit of clean litter, so I’m holding onto that and the bin. They may be useful for something later on or maybe they’ll be there if someone else needs them. While I was doing all that though, I did see two adult cockroaches in the bathroom. It had been a month since I’d seen any roaches in the kitchen. As for bedbugs, I hadn’t seen another one since the one I’d found and killed two weeks before.

            In Aesthetics class that day, we had two review questions, but I’d forgotten my iclicker because it was in my leather jacket and it was too warm to wear it.

            The first question was about the intention of a work of art. In Actual Intentionism it comes from the artist and it limits value.

            Is Conventionalism too subjective? No, it makes interpretation impossible because the meaning has nothing to do with the artist’s intention. This increases value but it is too permissive. Conventions and context determine meaning. If it is subjective then it is determined by the subject so it is the least subjective because neither the audience nor the artist determines the meaning. The aim of interpretation is to find meaning.

            One student argued that Conventionalism makes art more meaningful because of so many meanings. A second student asked, “What’s so meaningful?” The first asked, “What do you mean?”

            Devlin reminded us that our quiz would be in two weeks and that it would consist of ten short answer questions which would range from simple definitional questions such as “define aestheticism” to application questions like “What would aestheticists say about blank?” Or “Explain how to argue against Aestheticism or some other claim.”

            The quiz will be based on the lectures rather than the readings, but knowing the context from the readings might help our study. Take the lecture notes and study those points in the readings. Which philosophers are associated with which theories, but not every philosopher who has argued for a theory. We should know the names of the authors for the reader articles. Central figures. The quiz will be available online for 24 hours, but once we start, we will have fifty minutes before it times out. We need internet, and since there would be no guaranty of wi-fi in the classroom, there would be no reason to come in that day. It will be an open book quiz but there is a lot of book.

            Our lecture was on authorial intention.

            There are two versions of the question of the intention of the author.

            The Constitution question asks what authority the artist has over the constitution of the artwork.

            The Interpretation question asks what authority the artist has over the interpretation of the artwork.

            Devlin projected the image of a painting with various gradations of blue from light to black that descends from top to bottom. It looked like a view toward the surface from underwater. What if the artist says it is dynamic, vibrant and shocking. I commented that no artist would describe a work like that if they painted it, in those terms. If they did so they would have to be insane. A critic with cultivated sensitivity would say that the painting is calm, subdued and engrossing.

            Beardsley says that the artist cannot have absolute authority. He gives an example of scientists presenting research results that are skewed to their own wishes. I pointed out that to compare this to an author’s intention is flawed. There are more scientists that skew their research than there are artists who skew the meaning of their own work.

            Back to the blue painting, Devlin offers a scenario in which the artist says the painting is about a historical battle, that the black at the bottom represents death and the lighter part at the top represents the human spirit. A critic says the artist is wrong.

            Beardsley is leaning towards Conventionalism here. He says the meaning can’t be determined only by the artist.

            After class, three of us that were waiting to talk to the professor ended up talking to each other and carried on the conversation outside in the hall. The lecture had been on whether or not a critic is justified in challenging an artist’s interpretation of their own work. We all agreed that an artist couldn’t be very far off the mark when interpreting his or her own work. I said that I am never wrong about the meaning of any of my poems but that a sensitive critic could help me understand the meaning of my work more fully, show me alternative meanings or explain that I fell short of the mark in communicating my intention. The young woman had to leave but the guy walked with me downstairs and then outside. We stopped and chatted once more along the way. His name is Javid and he’s from Azerbaijan. He’s a physics major.

            Outside on the steps of the Sidney Smith Building there was a protest against a U of T psychology professor named Jordan Peterson who refuses to use gender-neutral terms when he speaks to students. There was a guy with a microphone calling for Peterson to be fired.

            When I got home, I took my clothes and bedding to the Laundromat. While everything was in the washer, I went next door to the Salvation Army Thrift Store. I tried on a pair of pants and what was supposed to be an extra large shirt but neither of them fit. I looked for curtain rods but they didn’t have any.

            By the time I was finished at the Sally Ann there was no time to go home, so I went back to the Laundromat and checked my phone to see if anyone has called me in the last month or so. The first name that came up was Helen, from Studio 1181, so I called her. She answered right away. She told me that she’d tried to call me but someone had answered my number to tell her that there was no one by that name there. I assumed that she’d dialled wrong, but she told me that Jane, another member of the group, had also tried to reach me and gotten the same response, so I don’t know. I assume they dialled wrong anyway. They are both elderly. Jane, at 77, is the baby of the group. I’m not going to tell them they screwed up though. Anyway, they called to book me for their very last session before they have to vacate the building in Mervish Village. I’m honoured that I get to be their last model. Helen booked me for December 6 and December 8.

            It’s so nice to get ready for bed without having to clean the litter box any more. It not only saves time but it’s so much more sanitary. Sometimes I’ve had to wash my hands and spray alcohol on them several times just to get the smell of poop off of them.