Nine Basic Arts

This work and a previous one, The World of Art, were originally planned as a single book. The generosity of Mr. Harold Feldman and Mr. John F.Molloy enabled me to send a draft to various friends for criticism. As a result of the suggestions of several readers they now appear as independent though related volumes. Both are in good part the product of an interest in the arts long ago awakened by Eliseo Vivas, and encouraged, nourished, and enriched by Neil Welliver. It has been sustained by conversations with George Howe, King Lui Wu, Paul Rudolph, Peter Millard, Arthur Drexler, Erwin Hauer, Robert Engman, James Brooks, Charlotte Park, C.Marca-Relli, K.R. C.Greene, Howard Boatwright, Richard Sewall, Harry Berger, Cleanth Brooks, Janice Rule, Curt Conway, Kim Stanley, Lee Strasberg, Uta Hagen, Alfred Ryder, John Gassner, Eliot Elisofon, Jonathan Weiss, Robert Thorn, David Slavitt, and Scott Sullivan. A draft of this work was criticized in detail by Ellen Haring, Iredell Jenkins, K.R. C.Greene, Jonathan Weiss, and Richard Sewall. In addition it has had the benefit of comments from John Gassner, Louis Z.Hammer, Dorothy Walsh, Robert Herbert, Vincent Scully, Philip Johnson, Paul Rudolph, Peter Millard, James Brooks, I.C. Lieb, V.C. Chappell, Richard Bernstein, Scott Sullivan, David Slavitt, Theodore Weiss, Henri Peyre, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Robert Lowell. I am most grateful to them; they have made it possible to improve the book immeasurably. I have tried to follow the lead of the criticisms which I have received. Divergent vocabularies, outlooks, and stresses, however, have often proved to be great obstacles in the way of a clear and common understanding. None of the foregoing critics should be held accountable for any of the blunders or blurs the work contains. I am glad that this book is being published by Southern Illinois University Press. It is a source of great satisfaction to me that Mr. Vernon Sternberg and his ex...