Monday, 3 May 2021

TRISTAM SHANDY (LAURENCE STERNE) AND THE IDEAL ANGLE FOR ORATORY

 He stood before them with his body swayed, and bent forwards just so far, as to make an angle of 85 degrees and a half upon the plain of the horizon;——which sound orators, to whom I address this, know very well, to be the true persuasive angle of incidence;—in any other angle you may talk and preach;—’tis certain,—and it is done every day;—but with what effect,—I leave the world to judge!

The necessity of this precise angle of 85 degrees and a half to a mathematical exactness,—does it not shew us, by the way,—how the arts and sciences mutually befriend each other?


This angle is really important and you´d better not abuse of it. Between the Moonwalker by Michael Jackson and backing away from someone or dodging a bullet in Matrix, there are lots of intermediate situations. In my opinion, the people who use the angle of 85 degrees are usually a bit annoying and their breath is likely to smell badly. Anyway, as the text itself says, what a good example of how well Art and Science support each other

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