Issues and Fragments

There are many subjects that appear in this book: Philosophy, Art, Fiction, Poetry, God. They are each approached through language that fits their content--language that itself shares characteristics of the subject it addresses. There are thus as many languages as there are subjects--exhibiting different forms of ""being about"" their subjects. Such forms are variously called ""analysis,"" or ""exegesis,"" or ""criticism,"" or ""speculation,"" or ""invention,"" or ""memories and dreams."" Issues become fragmented at the edges--the limits--of their language. Fragments, in turn, seek the shape--the boundaries--of their content. The forms of ""aboutness"" are as varied, and numerous, as are their subjects. There is no exhaustive listing. There is one subject this book is most concerned with. It underlies the others and questions the value--the possibilities--of mutual reciprocation. This, too, has many forms: ""What can or cannot be said."" ""Where are boundaries firm and where porous."" ""What is gained and what lost through interaction between subject-contents."" ""The many problems of synthesis."" ""What the difference is between 'Actual' and 'Real' in theories of life."" ""Contrasts between the nature--and the varying descriptions--of God and after-life."" The contention here is that all given descriptions are partial, and that in these partialities and their similarities, ways can found to construct--however slowly and painfully--the larger subject-nature of living and dying. ""'Evil is the other to everything that should be.' In Proustian-like prose, Krukowski considers the age-old question of good and evil, weaving together canonical philosophy with knowledge accumulated in person over the course of a well-lived life. His thoughts, both universal and intimate, are at one and the same time profound and extremely humorous as when he lists 'Qualities of people I hate,' then describes those qualities in verse before baking them into a delicious delicacy. This book won't renovate your life, but it will encourage you to value each fragment of it."" --Daniel Naegele, Editor, The Letters of Colin Rowe Lucian Krukowski is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Washington University in Saint Louis. He is the author of This Place of Prose and Poetry (2015), Before the Beginning, During the Middle, After the End (2014), Ripe Musings (2011), Aesthetic Legacies (1992), and Art and Concept (1987). He is also a painter.