Troubling Trouble Troubles Me

I came across this troubling quote in an essay on Jean Rhys's Quartet this week: "Central to modernist art is the concept best exemplified in English by Joyce and Eliot of the impersonality of the arts; the notion that the artist was to be refined out of the work of art: an art so impersonal that subject might well follow the contours of the autobiographical self such as Joyce's Stephen Dedalus, but the artist himself remains beyond his handiwork, refined out of existence." According to this critic, however, Rhys's work is not a product of this particular distancing characteristic of the modernist movement because her work is too personal. I am troubled with the distinctions this writer makes. How can the artist be "refined out of the work of art" yet still offer a work that is autobiographical? And why is Joyce such a success at this while Rhys's "developed out of an intensely private world?" Is it the character of her work or merely her character as a woman? Theses questions might be difficult to answer - and might very well be what my dissertation is in part based on. Although I am committed to unwrapping this particular package, I am perturbed by this writer's confident assertions. His tone seems to imply that the reader should know exactly what he is talking about, when in fact he has a lot more to do if he is going to convince this particular reader.

The brilliance of creative chaos

In the spirit of the post where I submitted a photograph of my office, I found this lovely article on desk-related chaos.
Here's a quote that details an experience that I have often gone through:
"There are books that I know I own but I have to buy them again because I can't find them."
I found this article a relief because I always thought my chaos was evidence that I wasn't the intellectual I thought I was. My dissertation advisor, for example, is the picture of perfect organization. It turns out, if the article is to be proof, that I am on the right track. One needs chaos in order to pontificate. However, unlike the author, the only thing growing hair in my office is my cat. As far as I can tell that is.
Read the article here: The brilliance of creative chaos
And information about the exhibit that inspired the article: Eamonn McCabe's Writers' Rooms exhibition at the Madison Contemporary Art

First post written on a mac. Phew!