Jim Jarmusch’s Philosophy of Composition
Patrizia Lombardo · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · 2014
The philosophical aspect of art is not limited to its content or to the ideas expressed by words or images. Indeed, art presupposes the implementation of a delicate philosophy — ‘The Philosophy of Composition’, as Edgar Allan Poe entitled one of his most celebrated essays, in which he explained how his poem The Raven’ had been written not according to some prophetic inspiration but rather following his ideas on themes and sounds. According to Poe, the imagination of the poet composes using pieces of memory and needs to be organized in order to achieve an effect on the imagination of the reader. The intention is clear, namely to affirm that all poetry requires reflection; that rhetoric is a matter of thinking; that aesthetic questions have the same value as metaphysical or ethical ones. Poetry and prose must aim for the unity of effect. As Poe asserts, all aspects of a poem or story must be drawn together so that the most diverse elements work in harmony, in accordance with a careful logic which darts and beats, like a refrain that repeats itself, resonating in the listener’s ear and leaving a sense of unity in the mind. Art must be similar to music, in which different notes, harmonies and especially breaks envelop the listener’s hearing in a single mental outcome. Such is the inescapable philosophy of form, which is made more severe when there are no rules, for an even greater strictness is needed to avoid collapsing into a random collection of sounds. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.