In a message dated 3/18/2003 9:07:43 PM Pacific Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
You are basically suggesting that the exact same poem has different value depending on who wrote it.
Yes, exactly....since the "value" of the poem is in our reaction to it, and not in any intrinsic value of the work itself. A poem is just words...it has no power except as we give it wings to fly. Value lies in the reader's mind, and is a choice made by the reader.
It is the reader or the viewer that gives value to a work of art, and our perceptions of the creator's character and motives strongly affect our reaction to it.
I think that the analogy of a great poem written by Hitler holds true. We would probably refuse to read it at all, and any academic who proclaimed admiration for Hitler's literary skills would be scorned and scourged into silence...or even into an apology.
To suggest that we would accept and love a poem written by Hitler despite the author's hideous biography seems mildly dishonest...or at least unrealistic.
MRS