After two exciting days of orientation, Wednesday provided a calmer atmosphere for the end of our introduction to Macaulay. After such formalities as a speech from the dean, an overview of our respective campuses, and a club fair, we sat down for the main event of the night: a reading and question-answer session with Jonathan Safran Foer.
He read a short story originally from his book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. This may have been my favorite part of the night. When I read the story in the book for the first time, I loved it. It was the perfect example of an urban bedtime story. Classic children’s stories about princesses locked in towers are outdated. Thomas Schell’s story of the sixth borough had the perfect mix of reality and fantasy to relate to the modern Manhattan kid. Even I, an 18 year old, found myself transported into the story: cheering on the long jump champion, amazed at the flickering lights of the fireflies, and talking to my friends through tin cans on string.
Hearing Safran Foer read the story just added to my total infatuation with it. His voice was hushed, in a way that made you want to lean in closer to hear just a little better. He remained constant in tone, but not monotonous. His pace was slow enough to be calming, but fast enough to keep you interested. If you didn’t feel the draw of the story when you read it, you certainly felt it in the room with over 500 silent college students listening to a fairy tale.
But the question “Did this qualify as art?” is still a difficult one. What is art anyway? In response to a similar question on that night, Jonathan Safran Foer responded that art is something produced with the intention of being art. While that is beautiful conceptually, I doubt an art museum is going to hang up a macaroni picture frame, although it was certainly thought of as art by its 7-year-old creator. So I turned to my very handy Mac dashboard dictionary. It defined art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination…producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”
With a definition handy, we can run that night through a checklist:
- The expression of human creative skill and imagination? Check. [The story is extremely imaginative and original.]
- Appreciated for its emotional power? Check. [At least for me, the reading was extremely powerful. I felt the emotion from my seat in the middle of the auditorium.]
- And for the idealists: Was it created with the intention of being art? Check. [Of course I suppose we’d really have to ask Jonathan Safran Foer this question, but from his comments that night, I feel this is a safe assumption.]
However the rest of the night didn’t exactly follow suit. The question-answer session seemed extremely repetitive to me and didn’t give me much insight on the art of Safran Foer. We got to hear a bit about his past and his objections with Macs, but not much was mentioned about any of his books until students were allowed to ask questions. Even then, he very quickly went off topic. It was rather disappointing.
So while I did enjoy parts of the night, I think there were better ways to have an orientation focusing on the arts.
