Clarity As with Finishing the Hat, the three principles stated in my mantra are printed conveniently in the end papers of this book, the back set graphically depicting that they are all in the service of clarity on every level, from intention to diction. Let me be clear about clarity, however: of itself it is, in the end, not very nourishing. Narrative art must be clear, but it must also be mysterious. Something should remain unsaid, something just beyond our understanding, a secret. If it's only clear, it's kitsch; if it's only mysterious (a much easier path), it's condescending and pretentious and soon monotonous. Forster and Fitzgerald knew how to be both. So did Tennessee Williams.
I was thinking this morning about how so many of my favorite Sondheim lines are exceedingly simple (I could look at him forever in color and light, don't stop now, keep going! in being alive) in contrast to his usually elaborate sentence construction. and then I was reading this passage in the section of look I made a hat where he defines concepts that are important to him, and it became abundantly clear that they are my favorites because of everything that surrounds them. the build up to I could look at him forever is magnificent, but the raw emotion coming through in dot and george's harmonizing voices surpasses and encapsulates everything that came before. as Sondheim says above, it is not nourishing by itself, but in the context of everything else, it becomes one shining moment of pure emotion. and same for the encouragement in being alive - I love how those moments show how dearly Bobby's friends do care for him, which has been somewhat obscured under satire the whole show. clarity!
