Diminutive Voices Volume 4

<p>Aphorism epigram adage—the essence of each form is a saying short and pithy. Brief condensed and easy to recite these represent a culture’s wise advice. What an aesthetics of the miniature! As French philosopher Gaston Bachelard observes “The miniscule a narrow gate opens up an entire world.” Some such sayings are pure description yet they hint at something more; others appear to be an elder’s admonition to a child; some resound with probing observations of human nature and God; others are light whimsical wordplays. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus who collected over four thousand adages believed a proverb to be like a hurled javelin striking the hearer’s mind with a short point implanting barbs for meditation. Nietzsche proposed that “the relief-like incomplete representation of a thought or a whole philosophy is sometimes more effective than its exhaustive amplification.” So Bazyn’s gnomic verse functions almost like Zen koans to push readers into new ways of perceiving.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>These four volumes like a patchwork quilt are interwoven with 196 color photographs (abstract to concrete) shot from myriad angles in assorted styles. When pondered seriously they help unravel manifold meanings within each saying. <br /></p>