Word: paradox
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...Defense of Reading presents the unhappy paradox of a badly written book about the delights of good writing. A collection of essays by present and one-time section-men in Reuben Brower's Hum 6, it has in parts all the dedication to reading as (in Brower's phrase) "active amusement, a game demanding the highest alertness and the finest degree of sensibility" one remembers from Hum 6, but --alas-- all the section-man dullness which is also a part of one's recollection of the course...
...Observe," Woodworth continued, "that Whitehead linked together "receptiveness to beauty" and "activity of thought"--"romance" and "precision," the transport of joy and the discipline of the mind. Woodworth called this juxtaposition "the paradox of discipline and freedom"; he illustrated it with a feeling he said occurred often among musicians--"only when each individual voice, each personality, each idiosyncracy is somehow lost in selfless allegiance to the music, only then come those unforgettable moments when the singers feel a sense of elation, indeed, of power and of freedom...
...wear-and-tear of the past few days pointed up a paradox of his situation: his responsibilities as Attorney General cut deeply into the time and energy he can devote to his campaign, while the experience and prestige his office grant help set him off from Edward (Ted) Kennedy, his rival for the Democratic nomination...
...despite the broad rivalry between the two family dynasties it is a further paradox that McCormack must run as an anti-Kennedy candidate. The picture of the President that adorns the wall of his office suggests the similarities between the two men. Ideologically McCormack is a liberal with the Kennedy blend of soaring, egalitarian rhetoric and halting political pragmatism. Other pictures on the mantle show the candidate with Harry Truman and Pope John XXIII...
...pursue the argument a little further: he isn't really calling the woman eternal, he calls her "summer" "eternal." This is where criticism comes in: criticism is the voice that declares a paradox when it sees one: "'Seasons' and 'eternity' are a contradiction," says the critic. "Shakespeare has tried to say something and he failed. It won't work. It's beautiful but it just won't work." And what has he done? He has put the work of art in question, just as the artist put nature in question. So that our opening premise, that criticism defers...