{ At 4:51 PM -0500 30/11/03, Halvard Johnson wrote:
{ >But it also has a lot to do with education and PR, Alison (oops . . . almost
{ >said Scarlet, there).
{
{ Scarlet???
Er, yes, Scarlet (I'll think about that tomorrow) O'Hara. Did I spell her
name wrong?
You're quite right about "elitist." Yes, that word must go too.
Imagine! If people put all the obstacles in the way of enjoying food
that they do in the way of enjoying the arts, then everyone would die
of starvation pretty damn quick.
Hal
{
{ Yes, but that's money too, no? That's a very encouraging story about
{ Elliot Carter. The other word that has to go out of fashion is
{ "elitist". Artists don't make their work "difficult" or "obscure" in
{ order to deliberately baffle people, but I've often heard it said of
{ contemporary art. The perception becomes self fulfilling, as we've
{ all seen with poetry. I mean, all you have to do is _read_ the
{ stuff; but people are taught to read in a certain way (which assumes
{ that writing conveys an easily downloadable "meaning" which is
{ immediately paraphrasable) that is actually hostile to the multiple
{ modes of meaning poetry generates. And so many people take it that
{ poetry is being somehow hostile to them, when it frustrates the kinds
{ of readings they are used to making.
{
{ Best
{
{ A
{ --
{
{
{ Alison Croggon
{
{ Blog
{ http://alisoncroggon.blogspot.com
{
{ Editor, Masthead
{ http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
{
{ Home page
{ http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
{
|