Wendell Berry - American Hero
By MARK BITTMAN
Awards & Honors: 2012 Jefferson Lecturer
Wendell E. Berry Lecture
“It All Turns On Affection”
Awards & Honors: 2012 Jefferson Lecturer
Wendell E. Berry Lecture
“It All Turns On Affection”
"The term “imagination” in what I take to be its truest sense refers to a
mental faculty that some people have used and thought about with the
utmost seriousness. The sense of the verb “to imagine” contains the full
richness of the verb “to see.” To imagine is to see most clearly,
familiarly, and understandingly with the eyes, but also to see inwardly,
with “the mind’s eye.” It is to see, not passively, but with a force of
vision and even with visionary force. To take it seriously we must give
up at once any notion that imagination is disconnected from reality or
truth or knowledge. It has nothing to do either with clever imitation of
appearances or with 'dreaming up.' It does not depend upon one’s
attitude or point of view, but grasps securely the qualities of things
seen or envisioned."
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