April 13, 2004

More on Theory

Robert, from Llama Butchers (who links to me all the time, and I really should just take a moment to thank you, Robert!) responds to my post about criticism/Camille Paglia with his own post.

He writes:

How well I remember arguing with a junior assistant professor over whether Jane Austen's works should be interpreted as closet lesbianism! The difference here is that a reader of average intelligence can simply ignore the criticism and get straight to the art itself.

Yeah, man. Let's just get "straight to the art". The thought of searching through Pride and Prejudice - one of the greatest novels ever written, in my humble opinion - for evidence of closet lesbianism, as opposed to reveling in her incomparable prose ... is ... it makes me sick to my stomach, frankly.

How utterly boring.

Posted by sheila
Comments

No, thank YOU! Yip! Yip!

Posted by: Robert the Llama Butcher at April 13, 2004 02:50 PM

This is a little off-topic, but from your posts on various arts, I think you'd like About Last Night, the blog by critic Terry Teachout and the mysterious Our Girl In Chicago. It's at http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/. Cheers.

Posted by: Michael at April 13, 2004 03:06 PM

Thank you Michael! I will definitely check it out.

Posted by: red at April 13, 2004 03:17 PM

things like trying to plumb the depths of Austen for lesbian references (instead of just enjoying the story or contemplating it as a reflection of the manners of the time) make me glad that I chose against majoring in English.

like you said, how utterly boring.

I have friends who were English majors and several of them say it destroyed their ability to enjoy "just reading" books for several years after graduation.

I think most of my irritation with modern criticism is how it somehow thinks everything has to be about sex.

Posted by: ricki at April 14, 2004 11:18 AM

rikki..reminds me of the writer (Koestler?) who said "The British have sex on the brain, which is a very unsatisfactory place to have it." May not be true of Brits, but sure seems to be true of Engish professors...

Posted by: David Foster at April 14, 2004 12:24 PM

David - I never heard that quote. I love it!!

I'm glad I didn't major in English too, Rikki - I grew up kind of reading books in a big free-for-all, picking up Oliver Twist and such way before I was ready - but in a way I am glad, because I read them in innocence, and I read them for the story. I loved the stories.

Later, I would go back and re-read all the books I read when I was too young to really get them ... but still: I didn't have the filter of "what does it all MEAAAAAAN" in my brain. Which does ruin the experience of reading, I think.

Posted by: red at April 14, 2004 12:32 PM

Oops: misspelled your name: Ricki.

Not like Rikki Tikki Tembo No Sa Rembo...

Posted by: red at April 14, 2004 12:33 PM