[MD] Dynamic Quality as Beauty

[plattholden at gmail.com]

All:

While reading a review of "The History of Beauty" by Umberto Eco, I came across 
the following:

" 'Beauty' seems suited to those experiences that stop us in our tracks."

I immediately thought of:

"He said, imagine that you walk down a street past, say, a car where someone 
has the radio on and it plays a tune you've never heard before but which is so 
fantastically good it just stops you in your tracks." (Lila, 9)

A few sentences later, the reviewer describe beauty as framing a period in time 
when . . .

" . . . before the critical faculties kick in -- when we know there is 
something beyond the usual twaddle." 

Which brought to mind Pirsig's:

"It connoted any phenomenon that transcended the run of everyday experience." 
In other words, 'Dynamic Quality.' " (Lila, 9) 

The similarity between experiences of DQ and Beauty have been remarked on a 
number of times by contributors here. So the similarity shown above is hardly 
news. Still, I found the meeting of two disparate minds remarkable.and worthy 
of note.

The full review can be read at:

http://www.powells.com/review/2010_09_10

 Platt