Monday, January 04, 2010
impermanence
Today has been an arty farty day; Larry got me off my ever growing arse and we went to the Michael Hoppen gallery to check out their exhibit on colour and gawsh at the prices. But after that I decided to have a skim through the Tale of Heike, a classical Japanese novel recounting the life of this super warrior dude during a big ole war in classical period Japan. It's lovely.
The main theme within the text is one of impermanence, and how all things that are beautiful are fleeting in nature; anything worth admiring won't be there to be admired for long. This attitude is apparently rife in Japanese culture, both in the past and in the present; it explains why still so many Japanese flock to hanami (cherry blossom viewing) gatherings around the nation in April for the one week where the trees are in full bloom. I think it's lovely.Anyway, all this fleetingness of beauty talk reminded me of a passage from The Picture of Dorian Gray. The part where Lord Henry rips up the pink daisy, showing his penchant for destroying beautiful things, and as a forewarning of what he's going to do to poor wee Dorian. Either way, the hedonistic tone of the opening chapters and Lord Henry's highly persuasive monologues got me inspired. Tomorrow I hit primark. Shopping list? 2 white tees and 2 pairs of black jeans. And maybe a really slutty night-slip for use as an over-top.
I want beautiful things, and I want them destroyed;
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