{"id":16576,"date":"2013-04-16T15:10:11","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T19:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/?page_id=16576"},"modified":"2015-02-27T12:53:22","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T17:53:22","slug":"how-to-talk-through-your-hat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/major-stories\/major-series-2013\/how-to-talk-through-your-hat\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Talk Through Your Hat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pierre<\/a>

Pierre Bayard, “How to Talk about Books You Haven’t Read” (2007), cover.<\/p><\/div>\n

This series of posts from early 2013 evolved from my encounter with\u00a0the manifesto-cum-instruction-manual\u00a0How to Talk\u00a0About Books You Haven\u2019t Read<\/em>\u00a0by Pierre\u00a0Bayard (2007), in which, as I wrote, “the author argues in favor of a spirited discourse about literature untrammelled by antiquated notions of any pesky obligation to actually read the books under consideration.” My analysis of Bayard’s argument led me to conclude that his project in this treatise constitutes “an energetic advocacy of [what we once called] talking through one’s hat.” Or, to put it more bluntly, bullshitting.<\/p>\n

That took me, inevitably, into considering the corollary for the visual arts, “How to Talk about Pictures You Haven’t Seen.” This led to pondering present-day “artspeak,” its sources and its consequences.\u00a0The links below will take you\u00a0\u00a0to my responses, the most recent first. I suggest starting with the earliest post and working your way forward from there.<\/p>\n