This morning, while waiting for a meeting in the metropolis, I noticed that it was Eadweard Muybridge's 182nd birthday, certainly an occasion worthy of commemoration.
Perusing Muybridge-related web pages, I encountered This Article (link) with the unusual title, "Eadweard Muybridge, Thief of Animal Souls," which was published two years ago in The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education, and seemed a little unusual for that journal.
The article is off-beat and the comments that follow are fairly hostile, which adds to its allure.
I've never seen Muybridge tackled from this angle before, but I'm glad Professor Malamud took on the subject. His essay is original and stimulating and Muybridge (if you're unfamiliar with his fascinating, somewhat gaudy, biography, you should look him up in an encyclopedia) is no "walk in the park," as they say.
But most things, apart from actual walks in the park, derive their interest through other, more imperfect, qualities.
