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Date Posted: 22:58:30 10/21/04 Thu
Author: Iphigenia
Author Host/IP: 69.151.96.211
Subject: "What an enemy we have in Greek"
In reply to: Retrofitted: Aristotle's Poetics 's message, "perezoso" on 22:45:03 10/21/04 Thu

>
>
>The serious work of literature is addressed to
>important, weighty themes (i.e.
>historical/philosophical/scientific, not porno or
>silly comedies, though satire might also be serious);
>it has a certain necessary relation to reality (that
>could be imagined realities as well, though that is
>debatable ); the plot (story's relation to reality) is
>in a sense more important than the characters; and the
>aesthetic qualities--poetry, rhetoric, imagery, etc.--
>are subservient or adapted, shaped by the theme,
>plots, and characters. The writer also assumes he is
>writing for an educated audience, and that is where
>some notion of agency is relevant. William Gibson is
>not writing for bored midwestern housewives ( maybe a
>few if they are "tech savvy" as mgmt. says); he knows
>his audience--geeks, tech people, engineers as well as
>slacker types, maybe some post-modernist lit freaks.
>WG blurs the boundaries between literature and
>entertainment--yet that is part of his ironic "pop"
>aesthetic which demonstrates a hyper-consumerism,
>instantly obsolete technology, and corporate-driven
>society; yet this hyper-consumerist "Sprawl" is not
>exactly a utopia. Hyper-consumerism and
>technological-- driven hedonism are sufficiently
>serious themes as well.
>
>
>
>The question is asked whether an immoral work could
>also be a well-designed, well-painted, well-written or
>well-composed one. Perhaps, but this is where we
>differ. The entire effect of the piece is not only
>dependent on formal aspects such as prose style or
>organization, but on theme, plot, characters. A biker
>cartoonist might draw a wicked picture of a Hells
>Angels gangbang but I would say the theme and
>materials prevent the work from being taken seriously
>or as anything other than porno.
>
>So the aesthetic elements become part of the overall
>political effect. Certainly that is true reading
>someone like Orwell or Vonnegut. The message or intent
>or theme
>(which is not always completely clear or traditionally
>"moral") takes priority over the literary style;
>though I will agree assessing the "style" is part of
>the criteria...

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Replies:

  • bravo! -- dp, 22:41:52 10/22/04 Fri (172.201.246.11)
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