Clive James on Wittgenstein

Posted on April 22, 2007
Filed Under Philosophy |

I’ve read, or at least read at, the Tractatus; I’ve read the first third of Philosophical Investigations; Clive James captures in a few words the gist of the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. I particularly appreciate that James understands the role of silence in Wittgenstein’s view of the world. Language is so powerful within its range of action that we easily forget the vast world that lies beyond it. The job of modern poetry — maybe all poetry always — is to point toward that vast range of experience it cannot grasp. Poetry is a necessary gesture toward the world.

Comments

One Response to “Clive James on Wittgenstein”

  1. Peter Rennick on April 23rd, 2007 6:47 pm

    a gesture -

    MAKING IT

    At the outpost of our peculiar
    longing to persist where that last tendril
    tightening around itself seems
    the least probable to make it across
    apparent nothing (the spirit we say)
    stalling (there being no one else)
    with what’s being said these days about
    our best leaves’ loss of a taste for staying
    so little learned or saved of the first green
    (the true Christ of this mess we’ve made)
    hindering whatever we seek to help
    in the sweet bitter way we do things
    falsifying the past deceiving ourselves
    about the future comes one welcome finch.