Possibilities of Abstraction

¶ … Abstraction and Composition: Some literary 'riffs' on the poetic vignettes of Cortazar The Possibilities of Abstraction Once upon a time, I knew a student of philosophy who was frustrated in love. He produced a proof demonstrating to his beloved that she should put aside her doubts towards him. All men being equal, it did not matter what man she chose to spend the rest of her life with, so long as he was a man.

The apparently insurmountable obstacle of her lack of attraction towards the student meant nothing, given that all human beings were composed, fundamentally, of the same atomic substances. Why not chose him as well as any man? He asked her. Thus, this abstract proof was presented to the young woman with great fanfare.

She agreed wholeheartedly with the student, turned to the man sitting next to her in the auditorium (they were all sitting in a lecture hall, listening to a professor deconstructing Kant's works on aesthetic principles) and proposed marriage to the student's best friend, whom she barely knew. The Possibilities of Abstraction 2 was also acquainted with a mathematics student, of the same university as my philosopher friend, whom accidentally defined himself into a different dimension, due to his overly taxing work upon a geometrical proof.

The fire department was called, but to no avail. Only the intervention of a particularly illustrious member of the physics department enabled the poor boy to escape. He never quite recovered from the experience and became, as a result of the trauma, intensely interested in 17th century theological poetry, eventually abandoning mathematics altogether for literature. The Possibilities of Abstraction 3 Sometimes, I myself, become fascinated with wordless street signs, like the curved arrows with a hook that tell drivers there must be no left turn made at this particular intersection.

Is it simply my own perversity, or do these signs make every observer long to do a left turn, immediately? I also like the signs with frightened-looking stick figures that indicate it may be hazardous to tip over a vending machine upon one's person.

These signs are so helpful but I do wonder who, if anyone, ever was the model for these figures? Are they only illustrations of abstract principles and dangers, or do they bear a passing resemblance to a poor thin man of a specific guise, brought into the Emergency Room, after too vigorously attacking a machine that refused to dispense his Hershey Bar or return his fifty cents? The Possibilities of Composition Composition 1 hair comb composed of pure lightening.

Would such a comb merely lighten the hair, like bleach, or singe the hair like fire? Or would the composition of the comb create an entirely different experience for the subject, giving him or her a connection with the sky, the eternal elements of electricity, or magic of entirely a different kind? I tried to use a comb like this on my own hair, but unfortunately it got stuck in a tangle before I could use it properly, and while I brushed the tangles out, the comb melted into my bathroom counter.

Composition 2 Steak-flavored ice creme.

Why, rather than waste an entire evening at a restaurant, where one must eat meat, then wait for dessert, usually in the face of company one would rather not be sharing one's time with, why not simply have a scoop of this new flavor? Then, one can leave quickly after just a cone and return home if the date is not going well -- or, conversely, one can enjoy all the pleasures of a steak house while wandering around the mall, licking porterhouse flavor from one's sticky fingertips.

I ate one such a cone only last Friday, and savored the pink meaty part a long time, although I found the white, fattier parts of vanilla a bit too rich and gristle-filled for my taste. Composition 3 An apartment complex for tigers. Oops! But that composition has occurred in life -- I saw it on the news. But I was thinking of another kind of apartment building. Clearly that would have solved the problem for the man with the pet tiger in Brooklyn.

If only he had allowed the tiger to leave home, when it came of age, and get its own apartment in a complex specifically designed for the species. Clearly, the story of the man who kept a tiger in his own apartment shows the problems of over-protective tiger owners who refuse to encourage their pets to.