Bill Stifler - Literary Studies

Literary Studies

Evan Lewis, the artist who created the sculpture Oceanic Mountainfish, says that sculptures like this

have been called listening machines because we listen while we work, but the sculptures seem also to be listening to some divine song or poem that we can't hear, and then reporting or translating them to us with sounds and motions we can hear. Wing/sound sculptural machines sited in a garden help create a contemplative space where the viewer/user can sit and be, taking in the sights and sounds as a form of salve for the soul . . . .
(Chattanooga State Pub. No. 11-71-65100-17-3/95llw)

However much we may become involved in the world of ideas which surround most discussions of literature, I believe this contemplative attitude which Evan Lewis describes should be our attitude as we study literature. Literature is meant to be heard, to be listened to with the inner ear, to be contemplated, savored by the ear in the same way we savor the taste of our favorite desert--slowly, carefully, deliciously--relishing every sensation.