|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/markrose/board/messages/ |
Upload File : |
<html><head><title>Xurnese arts</title></head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<center><h1><!--title-->Xurnese arts
</h1></center>
<hr size=7 width=75>
<p>Posted by <b><!--poster-->Irgend Jemand</b>
on <!--date-->19:24 12/8/01
<p>In reply to: (none)
<!-- PUT MESSAGE HERE -->
<p>
You write something like "the Xurnese culture sees the artist as a religious and
disciplined person, not as the antisocial substance abuser of our own culture.
An artist is expected in his youth to slavishly follow convention, and when he's
older to create daring, original works" or something.
<p>Now I see the good effect that this can have in many arts- letting someone prove
that he's actually talented for an art before he's allowed to tell everyone his
new ideas on how this art should be done. All to many self-appointed "artists"
in Western Civilisation today don't have any talent at all and therefore claim
that they just wouldn't follow any of those conventions for wich one would need
talents and would have invented new innovative styles (wich usually consist of
things anyone could do) instead.
<p> But this only works for the craft-like arts. You can tell someone to paint a
painting of the marketplace of Inex, or weave and sew a traditional Gotanelian
dress, or perform a dance of a certain tradition, to check out his talent to
paint, or weave and sew, or dance. But I think this wouldn't work for drama or
poetry. When you tell someone to write a story or poem or play according to a
certain convention, and he delivers what you wished for perfectly as you wish
it, it's at least as likely that he doesn't have any talent or creativity for
writing at all but simply copied earlier works.
<p> So how do the Xurnese solve this problem? Perhaps they could have conventions on
the general topics of writings, but expect writers (even young ones) to be as
creative as possible when it comes to the details. For instance, an ambitious
young writer could be told: "Write a love story set in the time whem Axunnai was
ruled by the barbarians, and the girl is raped and kidnapped by one of them, and
the boy then comes to rescue her, and then they join the founders of Xurno and
live happily ever after, but how you let all this happen is your business" or
"write a lovely poem about the beauty of the Xurnese landscape, and it should
have nice rhymes, but it shouldn't be to much like all the other poems about the
beauty of the Xurnese landscape that are allready around."
<p> Also, how's Xurnese-- and, for that matter, Verdurian-- music like? Is it like the
classical music of Europe when we were on that technological level? Or like the
traditional folk music of whatever place in the world? Or like the music of
bands like <i>Elrei</i>?
<p> And, talking of Xurno, how's the X in Xurnese pronounced? First, I naively
thought that it was like that in German; since I've heard your recordings of the
language, I'm not sure wether it's simply an English z/ German s or wether
there's supposed to be a bit of a k before it.
<hr><i>Mark responds:
<p>First, note that there was not (at first) a Salon for stories; so
I think we're talking about poetry and opera-- the arts that depend most
on language. I think the best answer is just to think back two or five
hundred years. Imagine being asked to write a hundred sonnets in the style
of Petrarch on the subject of divine vs. courtly love; or an opera in the
style of Mozart on the fall of Troy. By modern aesthetics this is only
an empty exercise, or a pastiche, or commercial tripe, but in older times
it was perfectly respectable. Shakespeare was a great recycler of other
people's plots. You would be expected to come up with your own words,
but not to come up with your own stories, characters or even themes.
<p>As for Almean music, I am even less of a musician than I am a visual
artist. :( My preference would be for it to sound at least as different
from European music as Chinese or Arabic music does. Perhaps someday a
real musician will be inspired by the Almean materials to come up with something!
<p>Elrei, huh? You've been poking around all over. :) Curiously, none of
the players thought to look up the word in the Thematic Dictionary, and
so missed a clue about the band! (No, it's not my favorite band, though
I do have a few of their albums.)
<p>X is pronounced [z] at the beginning of a word, and with its Axunashin
value [ks] elsewhere. (Except in Rajjay and Bozun, where it's [ks] at
all times. And in Gotanel, where it's [zh] initially, elsewhere [ksh]...)
</i>
<hr><center>
<i>To make a reply, or see replies, see <a href="../">the index page</a>.</i>
</center>
<hr>
<!-- For index page:
<li><a href="messages/277.html">Xurnese arts</a> -
<b>Irgend Jemand</b>
<i>19:24 12/8/01</i>
-->
</body></html>