The Lexicon · Genealogy · 19th Century

TAGORE, RABINDRANATH

1861–1941

Surplus in Man (The Reverence Beyond Function)

Tagore: there is a surplus in the human beyond what biological survival requires; art lives in this surplus. CoCA's Veneration of Potential Utility (§3.3.4) is the Tagorean surplus given an aesthetic. The waterproof jacket in the climate-controlled office is surplus made beautiful. The institution preserves the surplus deliberately. The surplus is not waste. The surplus is the practice.

Kin

Back to the Lexicon · ask the Oracle about this term.