Steiner's Sad Thought

Ten (Possible) Reasons for the Sadness of Thought

George Steiner

My brother-in-law, Guillermo Antonio Cervi��o-Wood, recommended George Steiner’s Ten (Possible) Reasons for the Sadness of Thought. I found his essay of that title (originally published in Salmagundi) here and here.

I can’t say I like Steiner’s writing. It seems unnecessarily convoluted. Plus, all his points were made earlier by Bataille and Bataille’s writing is much better, even in English translation. He even uses some of Bataille’s phrases (e.g., “sadness unto death,” “laid bare”).

But I did take the time to read and summarize the article.

Introduction
1 — Infinite thought cannot think everything that exists.
2 — We can’t control thought for long, and even if we could, it might be dangerous to our health.
3 — Thinking is private but common and repetitive.
4 — No absolute truth (language is inherently ambiguous).
5 — Thinking is wasteful.
6 — You can’t do everthing you think.
7 — Thought veils as much as it reveals.
8 — The veil makes it impossible to know what others are thinking.
9 — The fact that few are capable of great thought (“creativity”) conflicts with the ideal of social justice.
10 — We know (and try to escape) death.

Millcreek---Elbow to Terrace


more pictures...

the 4th of July

men
working in ditches
below the surface of the road women
working the

safety flags

the day before the

fourth of July

flags flying already
little orange ones marking
the new sprinkling system

the system seems or seemed
to work the system
of the fourth flags
still flying
the traffic lights

work too another
part of the
system or the fact

that we don’t kill
each other when we
meet unknown

Harold Carr 07 2006

Steiner's Sad Thought

Ten (Possible) Reasons for the Sadness of Thought

Millcreek---Elbow to Terrace