Hi - I will have access for a day or so before I loose contact again - so I will see if in that time Derek might give examples of Benjamin's uncertainty and lack of clarity - rather than asserting that William will have made observations in agreement with your own - in that I for one think it quite clear and believe the work that Susan Buck Morse a n d Joe Snyder have done on this essay make it quite clear how insightful Benjamin is in his argumentation - Chair, Visual Arts and Technologies The Cleveland Institute of Art
> From: Derek Allan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 13:06:44 +1000 > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Presence > > As to Benjamin, no, I am not going to quote chapter and verse to > defend my position. I don't have the time (or the inclination) at the > moment to discuss the detail of "Art in the Age of Mechanical > Reproduction". But I assure you, William, I have read it - several > times - and found it a most unsatisfactory piece of work - riddled > with ambiguities and vague precisely where it should be clear. Even > the much-vaunted "aura" idea is not explained well. (If anyone thinks > it is, how about saying what they think Benjamin means precisely and > why they think it makes an important contribution to the theory of > art.)
