Demon and the Angel : Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration

by Hirsch, Edward

• ISBN13: 9780151009589
• ISBN10: 0151009589
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-26
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

A work of art, whether a painting, a dance, a poem, or a jazz composition, can be admired in its own right. But how does the artist actually create his or her work? What is the source of an artist's inspiration? What is the force that impels the artist to set down a vision that becomes art? In this groundbreaking book, Edward Hirsch explores the concept of duende, that mysterious, highly potent power of creativity that results in a work of art. With examples ranging from Federico Garciacute;a Lorca's wrestling with darkness as he discovered the fountain of words within himself to Martha Graham's creation of her most emotional dances, from the canvases of Robert Motherwell to William Blake's celestial visions, Hirsch taps into the artistic imagination and explains, in terms illuminating and emotional, how different artists respond to the power and demonic energy of creative impulse.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Only Mystery	p. 1
Invoking the Duende	p. 3
Poetic Fact	p. 5
A Mysterious Power	p. 8
The Hidden Spirit of Disconsolate Spain	p. 13
An Apprenticeship	p. 19
Between Eros and Thanatos	p. 29
The Majesty of the Incomprehensible	p. 35
A Spectacular Meteor	p. 39
Swooping In	p. 45
Ardent Struggle, Endless Vigil	p. 49
The Black Paintings	p. 55
The Intermediary	p. 58
Yeats's Daimon	p. 65
Ars Poetica?	p. 72
A Passionate Ingredient	p. 76
The Yearning Cry of a Shade	p. 80
I Sing You, Wild Chasm	p. 85
Night Work	p. 91
Vegetable Life, Airy Spirit	p. 96
A Person Must Control His Thoughts in a Dream	p. 101
The Angelic World	p. 109
The Story of Jacob's Wrestling with an Angel	p. 118
Concerning the Angels	p. 126
The Rilkean Angel	p. 132
Angel, Still Groping	p. 141
The New Angel	p. 147
Three American Angels	p. 152
Demon or Bird!	p. 157
Between Two Contending Forces	p. 162
The Sublime Is Now	p. 166
In the Painting	p. 171
Paint It Black	p. 178
Motherwell's Black	p. 184
Deaths and Entrances	p. 191
Ancient Music and Fresh Forms	p. 196
America Heard in Rhythm	p. 202
Hey, I'm American, So I Played It	p. 207
Fending Off the Duende	p. 213
The Existentialist Flatfoot Floogie	p. 220
Poet in New York	p. 222
Where Is the Angel? Where Is the Duende?	p. 229
Notes	p. 231
Reading List: The Pleasure of the Text	p. 279
Acknowledgments	p. 303
Permissions Acknowledgments	p. 304
Index	p. 309
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