01.04.10
Asterios Polyp (Either/Or and other philosophical queries)
I have been trying to hash out a review of this book on and off for about 2 weeks now, but I seem to be getting nowhere. I figure that I had better just post this or it will never get done. Here it is.
Asterios Polyp was written by David Mazzucchelli. The driving theme of the graphic novel is the Apollonian/Dionysian conflict that arises in an approach to art and its existential(sorry) implications to real life circumstances. I closely identify with the Apollonian perspective, as I observe myself disecting my compositions, defining what I like about them, scrutinizing what I dislike, and ultimately abandoning the work altogether. As the idealistic framework of the theoretical world of art becomes more and more perfect and demanding in the mind, it demands art that itself can never meet the expectations, and even if it did, despite all the measured perfections it had attained, it would miss the point of art entirely.
