From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #170 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Thursday, October 12 2000 Volume 01 : Number 170 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 16:22:30 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] What Should the Critic Critique? Eric vs. Eric on the avant-gard Boy, do we disagree here. =20 >This is a judgment we get to make because we are the ones >spending time = and=20 >money viewing these works of art. And anything that we consider >to have = been=20 >a waste of our time and money -- something that did not benefit >us in = any way -- is something we can validly consider "not worth >doing." And that seems to me to discount the possibility that that work of art = might be the very thing we most needed at that point in our lives, had we = only been open to it. A waste of our time and money? Maybe so, maybe we = didn't get much out of that particular work, but surely others did. =20 I've noticed a curious phenomenon in my time. When I go to see something = done by a friend, no matter how poorly executed it was, I always get = something valuable from the experience. After all, I'm motivated to go = into that experience open and ready to embrace whatever it has to offer. = I know I'll have to respond honestly to its creator afterwards, and I want = to be able to respond positively. And so I make a particular effort, not = to look for the good in it necessarily, but to look at what it's accomplish= ing, what choices the artist made, and what those choices might teach me. = And I'm very rarely--effectively never--disappointed. Whereas those works = of art I don't much like tend to be those I was dragged to against my = will, and so am inclined to grouse about. =20 Now Eric is saying that the 'is it worth doing question' is solely in the = mind of the art consumer. I actually agree with him there; I think it is = a subjective question. I'd like to suggest, however, that that very = subjectivity should encourage us to open ourselves to the experience of = art. Surely we would agree that some art works require more of us than = others. Some works of art, particularly avant-garde works, require that = we think about them, that we seriously open ourselves to the possibilities = they offer us. And I don't think this is a bad thing. We may not always, = or even often be in the mood for Proust. But that doesn't suggest that = Proust shouldn't have written. I would merely add that the answer to the = 'is it worth doing' question is always yes, provided that we prepare = ourselves and open ourselves to the art work in question. Which in turn = makes it a less than valuable question. >Let's say a playwright wrote a play that was SUPPOSED to be >boring.=20 This has never happened in the history of the universe, but okay, let's be = hypothetical. >His=20 >whole point was to write something experimental and weird and >off-putting= =20 >and strange and dull But these words don't at all mean the same thing. In fact, I'd say that = they're peculiarly non-synonymous. Art works that are intentionally weird = are rarely, in my experience, dull. Works that are strange aren't = necessarily offputting. =20 This passage suggest to me something that I doubt very much Eric intended: = a hostility to experimentation and avant-garde explorations of subjective = experience. And yet I think my art form, the theatre, has been greatly = enriched by examining other epistemologies and ontologies, by attempts to = treat sign systems as mutable. In fact, the history of theatre is the = history of tiny theatre companies, struggling for existence, doing shows = for audiences of a few hundred in ramshackle spaces--and simultaneously = changing the art form forever. I think of Paul Fort, at 17, starting the = Theatre d'Art and doing productions that made the critics of Paris howl = with outraged laughter. And yet Fort's experiments in form and style were = the first stirrings of the movement we now call absurdism. I think of = Andre Antoine, gas clerk by day, theatre director at night, doing Ibsen's = Ghosts in a rented space with a few other actors he called, grandly, the = Theatre Libre. And by the time he was fifty, every major actor in France = was the product of his new methods of stagecraft. I can't imagine what = we'd do without the lifeblood of any art form, the experimenters, those on = the edge without whom the entire form would wither and die. =20 >something that would not be "crowd-pleasing" in any=20 >sense of the term, something that would have audiences >straining to = find=20 >some meaning, but that simply had no meaning whatsoever.=20 Surely an honest attempt to uncover the complex of meanings found in any = art work is among the main pleasures of an aesthetic life. And how can we = even suggest an art work with 'no meaning whatsoever?' Two word response: = Not Possible. All works of art always convey meaning, lots of meanings, = in fact. I know of no exceptions whatever. >(I believe some=20 >playwrights HAVE done this, but I'm not going to tell you which >plays,=20= >because it will just make people angry.)=20 And why? Because you'll find that your list of meaningless and dull = playwrights will correspond exactly with other people's list of deeply = meaningful and profound playwrights. And those people are likely to get = angry precisely because you're discounting their most fervently held = testimonies about the value of art in their lives. That could get anyone = riled. =20 >A production of such a play might=20 >live up to everything the playwright intended and thus be a >"good"=20 >production. But I would insist that, no matter how well done it >was, = it=20 >simply WASN'T WORTH DOING. And so we'd give it a failing grade, and accomplish nothing but damaging = our own critical reputations. And damaging the careers of those artists = without whom we cannot survive. Boy, do I disagree with this. We can, if we wish to, simply dismiss out = of hand the avant-gard artists of our time. But why? What would be our = loss, if we were to somehow transport all those performance artists and = absurdists and radical feminists and ontological/hysterical experimenters = and Brechtian and Artaudian directors and troublemaking playwrights off to = some enchanted isle, where clocks melt and piano keys have human heads, = and Didi and Gogo endlessly wait for Godot? What a tragedy that would be, = too. =20 I've said this before, but to me, the gospel requires more of us. = "Virtuous, lovely, of good report and praiseworthy" aren't just passive = terms. Those terms require a great deal of us. Those terms suggest, to = me at least, that we open ourselves up to the hard task of attending to = art. We need to think about what we've seen, ask tough questions of = ourselves. And that's not just in response to Schoenberg or Magritte or = Ionesco. I think we need to engage as completely and intelligently with a = sit-com, or with a John Grisham novel. And when we've done that, and come = to realize that this work is only possibly virtuous and debatably lovely = and that other work is of at least occasional good report and, perhaps not = completely praiseworthy, what then? Except to listen intently to the = testimonies of others, and see if we can find what touched their hearts, = which we missed. =20 But without an avant-garde, the searching and thinking and praying won't = be possible. There will be nothing for us to search for, or think about. = And that would be the real tragedy. Let me also add this question. Is it possible for a work of art to be = boring? Doesn't boredom suggest a lack on our part, not on the part of = the work itself? =20 Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 16:11:44 PDT From: "Jason Steed" Subject: Re: [AML] Death of the Author (was: Moral Issues in Art) I appreciate Harlow's posts, too--and I'm not just doing that polite thing where you praise or thank someone after they praise or thank you. Your comments about textual criticism are valid--and I absolutely agree: there are many critical approaches that can be taken, and in some of them questions of authorial intent are key, even central. I have a tendency to approach a text with the intent to construct some meaning out of it, which meaning relies on the context in which the text exists. Often, though biographical information and other texts by the same author are available, and a part of that context, I see authorial intent as absent (perhaps "absented") from it. For example, Faulkner calls Jason Compson "the sanest Compson since before Culloden" (did I spell that last word right?). Anyone who has read The Sound and the Fury, however, may take issue with such a proclamation--even though it is made by the author. So, what is Faulkner's intent? Is he trying to portray Jason as sane? Is he trying to portray Jason as insane, then comment on the nature of sanity by calling him sane? Is he just making an off-the-cuff, somewhat grandiose statement that really shouldn't be brought to bear on estimations of Jason's sanity? Bottom line: I can't know Faulkner's intent here, so the meaning I construct cannot include intent in the context from which I construct it. The novel is part of the context, as is the comment about Jason's sanity, and the knowledge that Faulkner was influence heavily by Freud (thus Freud's texts are part of the context), and so on--but intent is nowhere to be found. I can make guesses at intent, I can make arguments for a particular intent, but these would be part of the meaning I am constructing--not part of the context from which I construct it. And, of course, the meaning I construct, in the form of a paper on Jason and sanity and The Sound and the Fury, will most likely become a part of the context from which future meanings are constructed... Anyway... Who else is attending RMMLA? I will be there too--I'm hoping to meet some of you. Harlow, I'll try to find your session. I'm chairing a session on "The American Novel into Film." Anyone else? Jason _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 23:22:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Harlow Clark Subject: Re: [AML] Moral Issues in Art I've been wanting to take this thread in a different direction because I use _didactic_ as both the name of a genre and as a negative judgment. I'll explore some of the hitherto unrevealed (sounds like a huckster) drawbacks of the didactic in another post--it bears somewhat on the paper I'm writing for rmmla. In this post I want to mention a word about art as testimony, in both the religions and legal senses, as something we know and see "and most assuredly believe." On Tue, 26 Sep 2000 Todd Petersen writes: > Harlow wrote: > > > The difference between advertising and the Pieta and Dada > > and "The Wasteland" and punk rock, which Todd gives as > > examples of didactic art is not simply a matter of degree. > > Of course all art teaches, but it doesn't follow that a > > work of art whose primary purpose is to make sure we get > > the message differs only in degree from a work of art that > > treats the audience as an equal who can choose to take the > > message or not. > > I'm not sure that art is ever indifferent to its own results. Suggesting that certain kinds of art allow us to choose whether to accept the message or not is not the same as saying the art is indifferent to its results. As testimony art could hardly be indifferent to whether people accept it. Testimony wants to be believed, but there's some suggestion in scripture that the best way to bear testimony is to allow people either to accept or reject it, even though a testimony wants to be accepted. Consider the angel's words to Alma: "If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God." The angel wants Alma to repent and seek life, but part of the Book of Mormon's depth is that most people faced with such a stark choice--Laman and Lemuel, Noah, Coriantumr--choose destruction. Harlow S. Clark - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 23:08:15 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] What Should the Critic Critique? Jason Steed wrote: > Just because I may get a violent reaction from others does not mean I cannot > say what I say. Critics have dealt with whole populations disagreeing with > them for centuries. You don't want the opinion of the critic to limit the > artist, yet you expect the opinion of the artist to limit the critic. It > just doesn't work that way. Lots of interesting, intelligent points being made, but I have yet to hear anyone address my assertion that criticizing the artist's choice of subject matter is a form of censorship. I can't see how accepting such a practice can do anything but harm art. How can one possibly know in advance how an artist will handle a subject? This all started when Thom said another play about an imaginary lover is a waste of time in the LDS market, then listed some suggested topics that he thought were worthwhile. Yet when Eric described the play Natalie wrote, it sounded like she more than transcended the "trite" subject matter she chose. This to me is a perfect object lesson for why the critic shouldn't restrict topics in the first place. The critic is more than justified in anticipating that a work about a worn-out subject will be cliche-ridden. But he still has an obligation to give the work a chance. If, after the fact, the critic does indeed conclude that the work was tired and cliche-ridden, he has every right to say the author shouldn't have tackled the subject in the first place. But that's still a critique of "how," not "what." The next artist choosing the same worn-out subject may offer up a fresh approach that reinvigorates it. But not if we don't give him the leeway to do so. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 15:45:00 -0700 From: harlowclark@juno.com Subject: [AML] Grant SPEED, Sculptor Here is a profile of Grant Speed. I was going to post it earlier, but I'm afraid my editor butchered it. I say afraid because I haven't read it to confirm my fears. I started with a note about how gracious Speed is, something that's quite apparent if you spend any time with him. I can tell from the opening paragraph my editor put in that he thought the profile too personal. I strive not to write in first person for the paper, though I did in the original version. I've appended the original version to the end. New Utah Newspaper Pleasant Grove Review, Lindon Edition September 13, 2000 Volume 22 No. 37 Cowboy Sculptor: Lindon man created larger-than-life statue of mascot for Texas Tech By Harlow Clark While his work area at the Metal Letters foundry in Lehi may look cluttered, Lindon resident and sculptor Grant Speed knows exactly where each piece should go. Parts of the statue he is working on, a rider on horseback, are scattered all over the floor. Here a pair of horse legs with steel rods in the center, there a cape, the body of a rider, the torso of a horse on its side, a worker up on top with a grinder. "Pretty grubby work around here," Speed says. A hydraulic jack stands inside the torso. Speed explains that there is always some shrinkage, and when you are welding the pieces you have to move things around and make adjustments. When the workers finish putting the pieces together, you won't be able to see where the welds are, he says, and notes how the worker is pounding some of the detail in the saddle along a weld. There is a lot of detail, including the rider's Lone Ranger mask. The rider is a character from someone's imagination, The Red Raider, and is the mascot of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 'half bandito, half cowboy.' Speed says that his dealer in Dallas used to play football for Texas Tech, and when he heard the school was looking for a statue, suggested Speed's name, who is not unknown in Lubbock, where his Buddy Holly monument is in the center of town. Both statues are approximately life-and-a-quarter size, but Grant Speed is perhaps better known for smaller work. In another room he shows a woman's head, life-sized, maybe a bit smaller, eyes resolute, jaw set, hair blown back. "She's 'The Lone Defender,'" he says, explaining that on the Texas frontier women were often the ones who had to run the homestead, take care of and defend it, while their men were away. The head mounts onto a wooden base, and arranged around the neck is a vignette. The woman is riding a horse, among other horses, rifle across her arms. She will meet the challenge, whatever it is. The vignettes are a common theme in Speed's art, as is the dignity of people even in undignified situations. He shows another head, 'The Captive.' She looks Mexican or Indian. Her hair is also windblown, but it has been chopped off with a knife. Her captors did it to humiliate her, but they have not robbed her of her strength, and she knows it. Speed notes that his mother was one of these capable Texas women. His sculptures draw on the culture he grew in and from, the stories he grew up hearing. So how did a Texas boy come to Lindon? "After the Korean mess I had some G.I. bill coming and came out to BYU and married a Provo girl and we stayed." Speed does have a small foundry, but he says he doesn't use it. He set it up because there wasn't one locally until Neil Hadlock began his foundry about 20 years ago. The foundry has been a boon to his work. He has a studio at his house as well, but at 14 feet long 'The Red Raider' is too big for the studio, and he created the clay model for it at Metal Letters. At the open house the following week, the dashing Red Raider has a rich brownish patina, ferric nitrate, sprayed on from a household spray-bottle and heated with an acetylene torch, then sealed with a thin coat of wax. Is he worried about water collecting in the dish-shaped cape? Wind and sun will take care of that, Speed says. A bigger problem is water getting inside the statue, which is hollow. A solid casting that big would shrink too much to fit together, and weigh far too much. Some water will drain down the horse's leg and out through his hoof, but "bronze is a porous material to start with, so you can"t stop water from collecting inside." After the statue has been out in the weather for a while water will collect in the low points. They will be able to tell where by the green verdigris that forms and will drill an eighth of an inch hole or two to keep the statue drained. The next day people driving the freeway could see a Chevy Suburban pulling a trailer with a figure on horseback weighing about 2800 pounds wrapped in blue tarp, duct tape and plastic, with 2x8s under each stirrup and under the cape for support. The statue is about ten feet and half an inch to the tip of the raider's finger, Speed says, twelve feet with the trailer, low enough that he and Kevin Maag, who bought Metal Letters from Neil Hadlock ten years ago after working fifteen years for him, will not have to get a special permit. "That sure looks pretty, Grant," says Ross Hannant, one of the fabricators at the Metal Letters. "Well thank you. The boys worked themselves to death on it and I'm sure glad they did." +++++++++++++++++ The first thing you learn about Grant Speed is that he is very gracious. When a stranger calls for an interview in mid-July he says he is working madly to complete a statue he has to deliver to Lubbock Texas by the end of August. Call back in mid-August to find out when it will be ready to photograph. In mid-August I call one evening and he is out feeding the horses. He returns the call, inviting me to Metal Letters, the foundry in Lehi where the statue has been cast. A few days later at the foundry he greets me, and explains that he was helping his grandkids build a dog house and hurt his back. It is not a minor hurt, several times he has a spasm that looks like his legs will buckle, but he is full of things to tell about lost wax casting and how all the pieces are put together, and he tells them graciously. Parts of the statue, a rider on horseback, are scattered all over the floor. Here a pair of horse legs with steel rods in the center, there a cape, the body of a rider, the torso of a horse on its side, a worker up on top with a grinder. "Pretty grubby work around here," Speed says. A hydraulic jack stands inside the torso. Speed explains that there is always some shrinkage, and when you are welding the pieces you have to move things around and make adjustments. When the workers finish putting the pieces together, you won't be able to see where the welds are, he says, and notes how the worker is pounding some of the detail in the saddle along a weld. There is a lot of detail, including the rider's Lone Ranger mask. The rider is a character from someone's imagination, The Red Raider, mascot of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, "half bandito, half cowboy," horse agallop, cape flying. Speed's says that his dealer in Dallas used to play football for Texas Tech, and when he heard the school was looking for a statue, suggested Speed's name, who is not unknown in Lubbock, where his Buddy Holly monument is in the center of town. Both statues are approximately life-and-a-quarter size, but Grant Speed is perhaps better known for smaller work. In another room he shows a woman's head, life-sized, maybe a bit smaller, eyes resolute, jaw set, hair blown back. "She's ‘The Lone Defender,'" he says, explaining that on the Texas frontier women were often the ones who had to run the homestead, take care of it, defend it, while their men were away. The head mounts onto a wooden base, and arranged around the neck is a vignette. The woman is riding a horse, among other horses, rifle across her arms. She will meet the challenge, whatever it is. The vignettes are a common theme in Speed's art, as is the dignity of people even in undignified situations. He shows another head, "The Captive." She looks Mexican or Indian. Her hair is also windblown, but it has been chopped off with a knife. Her captors did it to humiliate her, but they have not robbed her of her strength, and she knows it. Speed notes that his mother was one of these capable Texas women. His sculptures draw on the culture he grew in and from, the stories he grew up hearing. So how did a Texas boy come to Lindon? "After the Korean mess I had some G. I. bill coming and came out to BYU and married a Provo girl and we stayed." As we tour the foundry I mention that I met him once before, almost 20 years ago when he and my father were doing some church-work at BYU, and he invited a group of writers to tour his house. Does he still have a small foundry? Yes, but he doesn't use it. He set it up because there wasn't one locally until Neil Hadlock began his foundry about 20 years ago. The foundry has been a boon to his work. He has a studio at his house as well, but at fourteen feet long ‘The Red Raider' is too big for the studio, and he created the clay model for it at Metal Letters. The statue should be ready the following Tuesday, with an openhouse. There are a lot of friends and neighbors interested in the statue. I bring my parents. Grant Speed's back is much better now, and the dashing Red Raider has a rich brownish patina, ferric nitrate, sprayed on from a household spray-bottle and heated with an acetylene torch, then sealed with a thin coat of wax. Is he worried about water collecting in the dish-shaped cape, my mother asks. Wind and sun will take care of that, Speed says. A bigger problem is water getting inside the statue, which is hollow. A solid casting that big would shrink too much to fit together, and weigh far too much. Some water will drain down the horse's leg and out through his hoof, but "bronze is a porous material to start with, so you can't stop water from collecting inside." After the statue has been out in the weather for a while water will collect in the low points. They will be able to tell where by the green verdigris that forms and will drill an eighth of an inch hole or two to keep the statue drained. The next day people driving the freeway will see a Chevy Suburban pulling a trailer with a figure on horseback weighing about 2800 pounds wrapped in blue tarp, duct tape and plastic, with 2x8s under each stirrup and under the cape for support. The statue is about ten feet, half inch to the tip of the raider's finger, Speed says, twelve foot with the trailer, low enough that he and Kevin Maag, who bought Metal Letters from Neil Hadlock ten years ago after working fifteen years for him, will not have to get a special permit. "That sure looks pretty, Grant," says Ross Hannant, one of the fabricators at the Metal Letters. "Well thank you. The boys worked themselves to death on it and I'm sure glad they did." ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 01:16:15 EDT From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN New Theater to Open at Washington DC Visitors Center: Kent Larsen From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Subject: MN New Theater to Open at Washington DC Visitors Center: Kent Larsen 10Oct00 D1 Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 21:30:00 -0400 [From Mormon-News] New Theater to Open at Washington DC Visitors Center WASHINGTON, DC -- The LDS Church's Washington DC Visitor's Center will debut its new theater on Saturday with a concert by the Southern Virginia College Chamber Choir. The theater, which has been under construction since its groundbreaking last Fall, will help the Visitors Center attract visitors year-round. The theater seats 544, and includes a large 70mm film screen, similar in size to the screen in the LDS Church's Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. The stage is also large enough to accommodate choirs and other large performing arts groups. And like the Salt Lake theater, this screen will show the LDS Church's film "Legacy," starting Monday, October 16th. Elder David Salisbury, Director of the Visitors Center, expressed some caution about the schedule because workmen aren't quite finished with the theater. But he is sure that it will be complete by its scheduled dedication on November 28th, by LDS Apostle Dallin H. Oaks. Because of limited seating, the dedication is by invitation only. That will make the theater ready for the Visitors Center's annual Christmas season events. Each year a foreign ambassador pulls the switch to light the hundreds of thousands of lights on the Temple grounds, starting the Visitors Center's Festival of Lights. The Center then hosts a different musical group each night. This year the groups will perform in the new theater. But while Elder Salisbury is grateful for the theater during the Christmas season, he is more grateful for what it will mean. "The Theater will bring more people to the Visitors Center and allow us to provide attractions apart from the Temple. In the past the draw has been the visual effect of the Temple. Now there will be a year round reason for people to come." >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 17:44:15 GMT From: "Eric D. Snider" Subject: Re: [AML] What Should the Critic Critique? > >Eric vs. Eric on the avant-gard I didn't mean to suggest that avant-garde stuff is worthless. The hypothetical example I used was one that probably fits in that category, but I don't dismiss a priori all avant-garde stuff. I actually like quite a bit of it. Just wanted to clear that up, so that Eric Samuelsen and I can at least agree on ONE thing. :-) > > >This is a judgment we get to make because we are the ones >spending time >and > >money viewing these works of art. And anything that we consider >to have >been > >a waste of our time and money -- something that did not benefit >us in >any way -- is something we can validly consider "not worth >doing." > >And that seems to me to discount the possibility that that work of art >might be the very thing we most needed at that point in our lives, had we >only been open to it. A waste of our time and money? Maybe so, maybe we >didn't get much out of that particular work, but surely others did. Well, that's sort of my point about "was it worth doing?" being so subjective: What I consider to have been not worth doing, someone else might consider very worthwhile. That's why, as I said, I don't take this consideration into account much when I'm reviewing things. It would have to be something that I was certain a vast majority of my readers would agree with me on in terms of its non-worth-doing-ness -- but even then, I would temper it with something like, "Not for all tastes," or "This will be a hard-sell for the average theater-goer," etc., to allow for those who would find it worthwhile. In other words, it's a completely subjective thing that will get wildly different results from one person to the next. As viewers, I think we are completely entitled to make the judgment, because it's our time and our money. (If this means we don't want to challenge ourselves, that's our prerogative.) As professional critics, you're right, it's not something we can fairly bring in to it, unless we know our readers really well and think a huge majority will find it as not-worth-doing as we did. > >Let me also add this question. Is it possible for a work of art to be >boring? Doesn't boredom suggest a lack on our part, not on the part of the >work itself? > I agree with this in theory, but in practice I think that lets the artist get off too easy. I've seen far too many movies that were just thunderingly dull, where it was apparent the filmmakers hardly even cared about being entertaining. To say that it was my fault I didn't get anything out of it is pushing thing a bit, I think. Eric D. Snider _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 14:18:30 -0600 From: Steve Subject: Re: [AML] What Should the Critic Critique? on 10/10/00 4:22 PM, Eric R. Samuelsen at ersamuel@byugate.byu.edu wrote: > Let me also add this question. Is it possible for a work of art to be > boring? Doesn't boredom suggest a lack on our part, not on the part of the > work itself? I wonder. What if someone created a work of art and 99 of hundred who saw it said, when questioned, "That was totally boring." S. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #170 ******************************