Volume 32, Number 14 · September 26, 1985
That's Art
By John S. Lew, Reply by Umberto Eco
In response to On 'Krazy Kat' and 'Peanuts'
(June 13, 1985)
To the Editors:
Umberto Eco's remarks on Krazy Kat find surrealism "especially in the improbable lunar landscapes, deliberately intended to divorce the events from any verisimilitude." However, continual references in Krazy Kat locate its events in "Coconino County," and the real Coconino County—in Arizona—has landscapes not at all unlike the comic strip. Back to the drawing board, Umberto!
John S. Lew
Ossining, New York
Umberto Eco replies:
For centuries men painted unicorns without having seen them. I suspect they imagined them by putting together pieces of the furniture of their environment (Coconino County included), such as horses, dogs, and deer. (For further information on this procedure, see Horace, Ars poetica 1.) We say they are unicorns. That's art, John!
