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Telling It Again and Again: Repetition in Literature and Film
Telling It Again and Repetition in Literature and Film by Kawin, Bruce F.
211 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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June 17, 2015I just finished it and now I want to read it again!
I discovered this book in the course of revising an article, but in truth I should have known about it long ago, as I took film courses with the author when I was an undergraduate. (Proving, thereby, that even fairly research-happy undergrads tend not to think of investigating what their professors have written.) The book began its existence as Bruce Kawin's dissertation, which speaks well both of him and of his committee, as it does not resemble any dissertation I can remember reading, including my own. It does, however, somewhat remind me of Bruce's lectures, which were filled with a frenetic energy and intelligence and were also at times a bit comic. The book is clear and wide-ranging (examples from Proust, King Lear, Yeats, Gertrude Stein, Resnais, and the Upanishads mix freely with those from horror and porn films); the ideas are exciting. It makes me feel 21 again in the best sense, full of intellectual and creative energy and discovery, and it reminds me how much I owe to those film classes. (I also found it prompted new ideas for my article, so I have quoted and cited with pleasure.)
It's just been reissued by Dalkey Archive Press, so go get a copy.
I discovered this book in the course of revising an article, but in truth I should have known about it long ago, as I took film courses with the author when I was an undergraduate. (Proving, thereby, that even fairly research-happy undergrads tend not to think of investigating what their professors have written.) The book began its existence as Bruce Kawin's dissertation, which speaks well both of him and of his committee, as it does not resemble any dissertation I can remember reading, including my own. It does, however, somewhat remind me of Bruce's lectures, which were filled with a frenetic energy and intelligence and were also at times a bit comic. The book is clear and wide-ranging (examples from Proust, King Lear, Yeats, Gertrude Stein, Resnais, and the Upanishads mix freely with those from horror and porn films); the ideas are exciting. It makes me feel 21 again in the best sense, full of intellectual and creative energy and discovery, and it reminds me how much I owe to those film classes. (I also found it prompted new ideas for my article, so I have quoted and cited with pleasure.)
It's just been reissued by Dalkey Archive Press, so go get a copy.
May 7, 2024
Published 7/11/13
The Aesthetic Principle of Repetition
"The search for novelty leads in the end to boredom. We are bored when we have run out of "interesting" things to do, or when our own lack of vital energy disgusts us. We are not bored with our personal obsessions, our natural functions, or the periodicity of nature- no matter how familiar to us they may be. The short shortsightedness of the conventional view of repetition as repetitious is evident in the words of our most absurd contemporary politician, "You seen one redwood, you seen em' all."
- Telling it Again and Again: Repetition in Literature and Film by Bruce F. Kawin. (Cornell University Press, 1974.)
If I had to make one specific criticism about the manner in which the internet has harmed aesthetics it is in the utter negation of repetition as a valued aesthetic principle. The best illustration of this impact is in the phenomenon of the "viral video." In this article about Jonah Peretti the demon king of buzz (creator of buzzfeed) the New York Magazine identifies the three underlying principles of virality: "virality depends on novelty, cleverness, and luck." (New York Magazine Profile of Jonah Peretti.)
Really though it's only the first of those three factors that have any meaning in terms of aesthetics, "cleverness" and "luck" being either specious of aesthetically neutral. Novelty though- the pursuit of novelty at all costs means the exclusion of Repetition, the aesthetic opposite of Novelty. The obsession with novelty and the pursuit of virality inevitably relegates Repetition to the cheap seats.
Additionally non-Aesthetic concerns of the Marketplace are natural collaborators with the conditions that support the advancement of Novelty as the ultimate aesthetic principle. It is common knowledge that the largest possible general Audience requires a mixture of novelty and repetition, but that the Market requires new products on a timely basis, creating an endless demand for so-called "Novel" variations on established artistic formulas.
There is no sadder sight in contemporary art criticism then the critic who castigates an Artist for lack of novelty. Such a critic is no better then a kool aid drinking hack for the forces of market capitalism and the internet novelty generating process. Being a critic today, in 2013, requires a deep appreciation of the aesthetic value of Repetition.
Repetition is not boring, it is actually the central fact of human existence, and it has been recognized as such by thousands of years of religious and philosophical, not to mention artistic, thought. Only within the last few centuries has Novelty arisen AT ALL let alone as a directly countering aesthetic principle.
The Aesthetic Principle of Repetition
"The search for novelty leads in the end to boredom. We are bored when we have run out of "interesting" things to do, or when our own lack of vital energy disgusts us. We are not bored with our personal obsessions, our natural functions, or the periodicity of nature- no matter how familiar to us they may be. The short shortsightedness of the conventional view of repetition as repetitious is evident in the words of our most absurd contemporary politician, "You seen one redwood, you seen em' all."
- Telling it Again and Again: Repetition in Literature and Film by Bruce F. Kawin. (Cornell University Press, 1974.)
If I had to make one specific criticism about the manner in which the internet has harmed aesthetics it is in the utter negation of repetition as a valued aesthetic principle. The best illustration of this impact is in the phenomenon of the "viral video." In this article about Jonah Peretti the demon king of buzz (creator of buzzfeed) the New York Magazine identifies the three underlying principles of virality: "virality depends on novelty, cleverness, and luck." (New York Magazine Profile of Jonah Peretti.)
Really though it's only the first of those three factors that have any meaning in terms of aesthetics, "cleverness" and "luck" being either specious of aesthetically neutral. Novelty though- the pursuit of novelty at all costs means the exclusion of Repetition, the aesthetic opposite of Novelty. The obsession with novelty and the pursuit of virality inevitably relegates Repetition to the cheap seats.
Additionally non-Aesthetic concerns of the Marketplace are natural collaborators with the conditions that support the advancement of Novelty as the ultimate aesthetic principle. It is common knowledge that the largest possible general Audience requires a mixture of novelty and repetition, but that the Market requires new products on a timely basis, creating an endless demand for so-called "Novel" variations on established artistic formulas.
There is no sadder sight in contemporary art criticism then the critic who castigates an Artist for lack of novelty. Such a critic is no better then a kool aid drinking hack for the forces of market capitalism and the internet novelty generating process. Being a critic today, in 2013, requires a deep appreciation of the aesthetic value of Repetition.
Repetition is not boring, it is actually the central fact of human existence, and it has been recognized as such by thousands of years of religious and philosophical, not to mention artistic, thought. Only within the last few centuries has Novelty arisen AT ALL let alone as a directly countering aesthetic principle.
May 23, 2022
Unfortunately for me, this book was not what I had hoped for. What I had hoped for was a book on the aesthetic use of the repetition and near-repetition of words and phrases in literature and film. There is a bit of this, but it is greatly overshadowed by philosophy concerning repetition mostly in life rather than art (and even in the life of characters in art; and much of the linguistic repetition is immediate (Howl. Howl. Howl.) rather than throughout the work). Repetition of words and phrases is something I looked for in writers I published via Catbird Press. The greatest of repetitors that I published was Vladimír Páral; he did an amazing job of enriching words and phrases through somewhat frequent near-repetition throughout his novels.
This is not a bad book, but it left me hungry for the book I was hoping for. E. K. Brown’s classic Rhythm in the Novel appears to be more about repetition in imagery and in characters’ lives than in words and phrases. Does anyone have recommendations for books on the topic I was looking for.
This is not a bad book, but it left me hungry for the book I was hoping for. E. K. Brown’s classic Rhythm in the Novel appears to be more about repetition in imagery and in characters’ lives than in words and phrases. Does anyone have recommendations for books on the topic I was looking for.
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