#chronis botsoglou

[oldsardens]

Chronis Botsoglou - Autoportrait

[literaryvein-reblogs]

George Orwell: Good Bad Books

George Orwell:

A type of book which we hardly seem to produce in these days, but which flowered with great richness in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is what Chesterton called the “good bad book”: that is, the kind of book that has no literary pretensions but which remains readable when more serious productions have perished.

“Escape” Literature

They form pleasant patches in one’s memory, quiet corners where the mind can browse at odd moments, but they hardly pretend to have anything to do with real life.

There is another kind of good bad book which is more seriously intended, and which tells us, I think, something about the nature of the novel and the reasons for its present decadence.

During the last fifty years there has been a whole series of writers – some of them are still writing – whom it is quite impossible to call “good” by any strictly literary standard, but who are natural novelists and who seem to attain sincerity partly because they are not inhibited by good taste.

Good Bad Literature

Exhibitionism and self-pity are the bane of the novelist, and yet if he is too frightened of them his creative gift may suffer.

The existence of good bad literature – the fact that one can be amused or excited or even moved by a book that one’s intellect simply refuses to take seriously – is a reminder that art is not the same thing as cerebration.

In novelists, almost as much as in poets, the connection between intelligence and creative power is hard to establish.

"Light" Literature

Perhaps the supreme example of the “good bad” book is Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

It is an unintentionally ludicrous book, full of preposterous melodramatic incidents; it is also deeply moving and essentially true; it is hard to say which quality outweighs the other.

But Uncle Tom’s Cabin, after all, is trying to be serious and to deal with the real world.

How about the frankly escapist writers, the purveyors of thrills and “light” humour?

How about Sherlock Holmes, Vice Versa, Dracula, Helen’s Babies or King Solomon’s Mines?

All of these are definitely absurd books, books which one is more inclined to laugh at than with, and which were hardly taken seriously even by their authors; yet they have survived, and will probably continue to do so.

All one can say is that, while civilisation remains such that one needs distraction from time to time, “light” literature has its appointed place; also that there is such a thing as sheer skill, or native grace, which may have more survival value than erudition or intellectual power. 

Excerpts from the article, "Good Bad Books" published in the Tribune, 2 November 1945

More: George Orwell

[monogreek]

Man and Woman on Red Background (1984)by Chronis Botsoglou (1941-2022)

[nothing-but-vices]

Χρόνης Μπότσογλου | Ζευγάρι - 08/1999                                      Γραφίτης, μολύβι, γκρι σιδήρου 51,5Χ64,5 εκ. Chronis Botsoglou | Couple - 08/199                                   Graphite, pencil, iron grey 51,5Χ64,5 cm

[seekbeautyinthemundane]

Chronis Botsoglou Personal Nekyia

The title “Nekyia” is referred to the eleventh book of Homer’s, “Odyssey”, where he describes the descent of Odysseus into Hades and the conversation with the shadows of the dead. In his personal Nekyia, Botsoglou is trying to understand and represent those people that no longer exist and who played an important role in his life.

“I used the archetypal Homeric legend, which belongs to all mankind, as an element of social memory, trying to figure out the arbitrary way I live this myth in. I kept, as a component of the composition, the basic distinction between the chorus of men and that of women. Some of the individuals pictured refer to the Homeric heroes, others do not. (…) I could probably admit that this ambitious project is a visual essay on memory, ” writes Botsoglou.

http://www.felioscollection.gr/en/artwork/mia-prosopiki-nekyia#.WM7-m_KYJ6I

1993-2000

oil pastel, dry pastel, icon pigment on paper mounted on canvas

150x100 cm

[monogreek]

Selfportrait by Chronis Botsoglou (1941-March 4, 2022)

[monogreek]

Untitled (1979) by Chronis Botsoglou (b. 1941)

[nothing-but-vices]

Χρόνης Μπότσογλου | Ερωτικό ζευγάρι - 08/1999                                      Γραφίτης, μολύβι, γκρι σιδήρου 62,5Χ56,5 εκ. Chronis Botsoglou | Erotic couple - 08/1999                                   Graphite, pencil, iron grey 62,5Χ56,5 cm