Our writer reduces Dan Fox’s musings about art snobbery to a pithy 700 words, taking in Plato, Hamlet and hipster beards I’ll try to start as unpretentiously as possible. With the basics. The Latin _prae_ – before – and _tendere_ meaning to stretch. That way being pretentiousness doesn’t sound so bad, does it? I’m sorry if I’m losing you already. I’m not being pretentious, trust me, it’s just that you’re a little slow. OK, let’s have another go. Think of pretentiousness as holding something in front of you, like actors wearing masks in ancient Greek tragedy, or medieval knights presenting their escutcheon. With me? Good. Plato hated actors for concealing the authentic and does that not really get to the heart of pretentiousness? For what is pretentiousness, if not the obverse of authenticity? We praise an actor for the authenticity of their Hamlet, yet why are we not angry that he isn’t truly dead at the end of the play? Continue reading...
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