ABSTRACT
All art is a bodily affair. Even in its most spiritual aspects, art is produced by the body and perceived through the body. Traditionally, music has been defined as the most spiritual of arts, because it cannot be touched or seen and because the inner ear is such an inconspicuous part of the body. But the extent of muscular strain implied in its production is well known to anyone who performs it, as well as to anyone who watches a live concert; and music has a peculiar ability automatically to set the body in motion. Written poetry and literature would appear to be even more disembodied; but writing and reading are physical activities, subject to the laws of bodily movements and postures. Chinese poets and medieval copyists competed in the formal elegance of their writings and the implied hand gestures and brush strokes. In our own times, the competition between electronic and paper-based media revolves, among other things, around the different bodily requirements in their use. It is still difficult to read a computer screen in bed, in the toilet, or in a crowded subway.
