Paul with regard to metaphor, what do you think of Paul Ricoeur? I suppose
the point about playfulness is that anyone can write and say anything about
a text, it doesn't need a scientist, and if one derives an aesthetic
pleasure from that reading, or if it has widened the horizons of
possibilities, then why not. But of course it is a different matter when
someone says something with authority and uses science to back it up.
Cultural theory I enjoy reading, I know it is all a house of cards,
sometimes there are pretty pictures which one likes, other times there are
really stupid things said, but on the whole I love the Gallic approach to
culture, the intellectualizing, the salon, the cafe, bon mots, maxims,
everything that started after the movement away from the Cours as the centre
of culture. But as much I enjoy reading it, and it is
stimulating --irritating, provocative, I do not care for the theory when it
is applied to life and when it seeps into human affairs such as the social
services, government, law and even into human relations between individuals.
As an outrigger to literature, yes --
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