Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/07

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Quiet Screaming
From: Donal Philby <donalphilby@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 22:28:07 +0000

Eric Welch wrote:
> 
> I fail to see how candid portrait fails this test. Candid
> and portrait are opposites in my book, contradictory and absurd as a
> combination. Like jumbo shrimp, military intelligence, and more erudite
> combinations if it weren't so late that I can't think of them.

Eric, the two you mention are contradictions in terms, not oxymorons. 
The requirement is that the adjective be used for effect.  jumbo shrimp
are simply big crustaceans (relatively). though having served time in
military intelligence perhaps disqualifies me from this discourse!!

The cliche example of a true oxymoron is "silent thunder."  Thunder
obviously isn't quiet, but "silent thunder" is a little like a zen
koan--you can't think it, but it helps to throw you into perception
beyond the rational.  It is not a scientific definition of an event, but
a way to communicate more related to art.  

I recommend reading Peter Beagle's book "The Last Unicorn" for the most
exquisite use of metaphors and occasional oxymorons.  Not the movie, the
book!

Or try Trevanian's novel "Shibumi" for some concepts of perception and
consciousness of great value to photographers (that our Japanese friends
probably understand innately), and which relate to the spirit of
oxymorons.  Of course, I like the book for my empathy with the main
character as a world-class lover, but that's a topic for another post
when my mind is not, perhaps,  in a crystalline fog of self delusion.

donal

- -- 
__________
Donal Philby
San Diego
www.donalphilby.com