BOO KS
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ing of the Symbol," are the most impressive part of Mrs. Langer's work.
Here she begins with an analysis of just that quality which the prag–
matic temper tends to assimilate: "the air of illusion, of being a sheer
image," the "transparency" or "semblance" which art presents to our
perception. Mrs. Langer's steady concentration upon "semblance" leads
to a theory that each of the major forms of art has its own primary
illusion; the modes of this illusion are created by the basic abstractions
employed by the particular arts. In the plastic arts, the primary illusion
which the artist creates is virtual space. The basic abstractions which
correspond to painting, sculpture, and architecture are scene, kinetic
volume, and ethnic domain. Beginning with the plastic arts and music,
which have traditionally invited the most intense philosophical specula–
tion, she then moves to a fascinating and complex discussion of the
dance, whose primary illusion is the virtual realm of Power; and con–
tinues to an extended study of literature in its various modes. This
latter section which analyzes the nature of prose and poetry, drama,
comedy and tragedy, might well provide a key philosophical text for
critics who feel the need for clarification of their basic principles.
It
is not only in tune with the main currents of contemporary criticism,
but is sufficiently flexible that the numerous special approaches which
are catalogued, for example, in Wellek and Warren's
Theory of Litera–
ture,
can find their proper place in the geperal scheme.
It is difficult to characterize the complex method which Mrs.
Langer uses in the course of her analysis of the arts. At times it con–
sists of a sheer concentration on what is immediately given by art. In
the thoughtful description of this
donnee,
she can subordinate the con–
tingent facts, and develop the patterns of essential relationships which
inhere in the illusion itself. Woven through this approach, concurrent
with it, is the further analysis of the powers of art. This duality is sug–
gested by the term
virtual,
which is always used in connection with the
perceptible illusion which art offers. Although it is usually defined in
relation to the specific illusion which Mrs. Langer is discussing, it re–
tains those ambiguous senses which are exemplified by the dictionary
definition: "being in essence, but not in fact," as well "as relating to
a virtue or efficacious power." I cannot speak too highly of these central
chapters which describe and analyze the illusions which the artist creates.
Mrs. Langer is boldly speculative as she patterns a wealth of insight
into meaningful form.
At the moment, however, when Mrs. Langer is closest to the im–
mediacy of art, she holds to her central purpose: to show the cognitive
and ideational core at the heart of the different modes of symbolization.
