Perspectives

In this culture of brief global explosions and temporary ripples that disappear in a day or a week, the value of the individual perspective grows, especially the breadth and acuity of perspective over time. And once that individual dies, the perspective dies as well, except as record and retrospect.

This thought forces itself on me after months of fitfully reading John Leonard's last collection of essays, Lonesome Rangers (although there may be a posthumous collection of later work, I suspect.) Leonard died a year or so ago, after actively writing about books, television and other cultural matters since the early 70s. The connections he made, the depths and breadth of his insights, are invaluable. And unique.

I've also been reading some G.B. Shaw, and watching his plays on DVD. In his plays and prefaces and commentary, Shaw provided a unique voice, and still provides a unique perspective on his times, which stretched from the late 19th century to the mid-20th. There's been no one like him since. Looking into articles on the immense changes happening with blinding speed involving computer technologies, in The Best Technology Writing 2009 (Yale), I pause to wonder what Shaw or Leonard would have made of all this. Something no one else has thought of, and probably something more than anyone else has thought of. Maybe something we need.