Some people just don't know how to fart privately - C Pagilia's language is
the language of gas of the mustard variety. Unfortunately she is of the
gregarious sort. I suggest using a match to light her stinking pages.
Performance poetry of the curing sort.
Oops, she does have the right to speak of which one ought not deny! Sort of.
Stephen V
Blog: http://stephenvincent.durationpress.com
> Ah, Camille! She knows there's nothing like a polemic!
>
> Here's her latest, an intro to an essay which dissects 43 of the "world's
> best poems". The lead in says: "A veteran of the vibrant 1960s poetry
> scene, Camille Paglia argues that critics can no longer read, poets can no
> longer write, and the unacknowledged legislators of our age are writing
> advertising jingles for peanuts".
>
> It all looks a little out of date to me (railings against theory and "the
> triumph of ideology over art" and the "death of the author"), and she levels
> the Tom Wolfe accusation that poets only write to impress other poets. Only
> without Tom Wolfe's wit.
>
> "Our most honoured poets are gifted and prolific, but we have come to
> respect them for their intelligence, commitment and the body of their work.
> They ceased focusing long ago on production of the powerful, distinctive,
> self-contained poem. They have lost ambition and no longer believe they can
> or should speak for their era. Elevating process over form, they treat their
> poems like meandering diary entries and craft them for effect in live
> readings rather than on the page. Arresting themes or images are proposed,
> then dropped or left to dribble away. Or, in a sign of lack of confidence in
> the reader or material, suggestive points are prosaically rephrased and
> hammered into obviousness. Rote formulas are rampant - a lugubrious
> victimology of accident, disease, and depression or a simplistic, ranting
> politics (people good, government bad) that looks naive next to the incisive
> writing about politics on today's op-ed pages. "
>
> http://www.arts.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/03/10/bocam10
> .xml&sSheet=/arts/2005/03/10/bomain.html
>
> It's a long url so you might have to paste it into the browser.
>
> (The peanuts seems accurate).
>
> All the best
>
> A
>
> Alison Croggon
>
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
> Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
|