Kress 122-175

I feel that Kress brought up something very interesting in regard to the topic he chose for closing the book. Punctuation and white space. These are very postmodern ideas that indicate the fixation of the mind on the importance of the meaning surrounding words that we have picked. In particular, it reminded me of an Italo Calvino book entitled Invisible cities in which about half of the book, including pages within the book, was blank. The idea was to find and interpret our own meaning within those empty spaces. While some may say that white space, or negative space as the artist's call it, is attributed to loneliness, it is also a place of hope. It gives oneself room to think and expand farther than one is capable within a word. Punctuation was also another closing point for Kress. We've discussed the use of punctuation in regards to different interpretations and many other people on the blog have brought up good examples of strange punctuation and its effect on the message.

This is a passage from Calvino's Invisible Cities. It emphasizes the importance of negative space. To Calvino, the white space is what is holding us all together.

Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone."But which is the stone that supports the bridge?" Kublai Khan asks. "The bridge is not supported by one stone or another," Marco answers, "but by the line of the arch that they form."Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting.Then he adds: "Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matters to me."Polo answers: "Without stones there is no arch."