Hi Andrew
It was in the essay Dom pointed out at
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/044106.html
The actual quote is:
This is the genius of the new Literary Access programs: the more you dilute
art, the more you appear to increase the access. But access to what? Not to
anything that would give a reader or listener any strong sense that poetry
matters, but rather access to a watered down version that lacks the cultural
edge and the aesthetic sharpness of the best popular and mass culture. The
only reason that poetry matters is that is has something different to offer,
something slower on the uptake, maybe, but more intense for all that, and
also something necessarily smaller in scale in terms of audience. Not better
than mass culture but a crucial alternative to it.
Cheers
A
---
Well thank goodness the quote itself is better than the platitude of its
paraphrase. I question whether events/programs like National Poetry Month,
or similar promotional initiatives, can really weaken or water down poetry
as he suggests? It's another example of what the critic Sven Birkerts
called the "damselizaton of poetry." (Only he was responding to the
'overprotectiveness' coming from the conservative critic Harold Bloom.)
Poor little helpless poetry being mashed by the forces of advertising and
increased access. As if. It's also a good example of a loss of perspective.
If you went out onto the streets one April and started quizzing people with
the question, 'Did you know it was National Poetry Month?', I'm sure
you'd be met with mostly blank stares. It's more likely to heighten the
consciousness of those who are already somewhat engaged with the literary
arts. Or is a prod to educators and arts organizers to make something
happen that involves poetry during the month.
Honestly, the suggestion is that National Poetry Month suddenly dumbs
down poetry, makes otherwise literate people forget the difference between
between the "best" (as if that has ever been agreed upon in the first place)
and the less good, borders on the ludicrous.
Finnegan
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