On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry-Quality Guarantee

Description

On Being Blue is a book about everything blue—sex andsleaze and sadness, among other things—and about everything else. Itbrings us the world in a word as only William H. Gass, amongcontemporary American writers, can do.

Gass writes:
Of the colors, blue and green have the greatestemotional range. Sad reds and melancholy yellows are difficult to turnup. Among the ancient elements, blue occurs everywhere: in ice andwater, in the flame as purely as in the flower, overhead and insidecaves, covering fruit and oozing out of clay. Although green enlivensthe earth and mixes in the ocean, and we find it, copperish, in fire;green air, green skies, are rare. Gray and brown are widely distributed,but there are no joyful swatches of either, or any of exuberantblack, sullen pink, or acquiescent orange. Blue is therefore mostsuitable as the color of interior life. Whether slick light sharp highbright thin quick sour new and cool or low deep sweet dark soft slowsmooth heavy old and warm: blue moves easily among them all, and allprofoundly qualify our states of feeling.