Yakov Krotov

N O T E S

COMUNICATION

Right Errors and Wrong Errors

Minor errors in speech do not necessarily make speech worse. Often, they make it more interesting, more original. This applies to written language as well. In essence, what we call an “original style” is precisely a combination of error and truth. Errors function like salt and pepper. There should not be too many of them, of course, and they should not look like mistakes.

What is an error? An error is a deviation, a kind of pathology. It is abnormal to say “everything got mixed up in the house of the Obolenskys.”

It is interesting that this applies mainly to texts, spoken and written. When it comes to images, things are more complicated. The glamorization of photography and cinema is a problem, yet many people like it. Many would like to live in a Netflix-like universe where everything is smooth and polished. In this glamorization, America leads, but other countries follow the same course.

“Classical art” of Greece and Rome was, to be honest, extremely glamorous—that is, it was bad art. But! Crude, clumsy, miserable photographs and films are no better than glamorous ones. Errors, roughness, imperfections do not automatically produce “style”; by themselves, they merely stink and hurt the eye. Even more so in visual media than in texts—that is what is interesting.

To turn error into style is very difficult. But it is possible—the clearest example is Francis Bacon. Distortion must be calculated with extreme precision, more precisely than glamour itself.

AI can produce glamour perfectly, but it cannot produce the right kind of error.