Canon
A brief note to place Edward Bennett Marks, who died either on Saturday, October 8, 2005 (Washington Post), or on Monday, October 10, 2005 (New York Times), in my personal canon of saints. Today’s New York Times says that Marks spent his career “aiding refugees as an executive of American and international agencies, both official and volunteer.” This alone was commendable, but not miraculous. The miraculous is contained in three words from the Log24 entry of October 10, the date of death of Orson Welles, of Yul Brynner, and perhaps of Marks: “All come home.”
For a rather different perspective on St. Yul Brynner, see “Shall We Dance?”– a profile by Calvin Tomkins in this week’s New Yorker (issue dated 2005 10/17, posted 10/10) of an artist raised in Bangkok. It is perhaps not irrelevant that the chess enthusiast Marcel Duchamp plays a prominent role in this piece.
Some other remarks on chess and art:
From Introduction to Aesthetics
(Log24, October 10, 2004) —
G. H. Hardy on chess problems:
“It is essential… (unless the problem is too simple to be really amusing) that the key-move should be followed by a good many variations, each requiring its own individual answer.”
According to the New York Times, Marks died on Oct. 10 (see related entry).
According to the Washington Post, Marks died on Oct. 8 (see related entry). |
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For some remarks on art by St. Edward, see UN Chronicle, Issue 4, 1998.
