[ExI] Objective standards?/was Re: silly 'rules'

[William Flynn Wallace]

​dan:  Which ones? Unless I'm wildly wrong, objective standards for
literature and the arts in general are debated in academia and it seems the
view that there might not be any is held by a significant number of
academic, it seems to me that departments of literature are not resting on
that view. I didn't do any surveys here, so I might be wrong, but I'm
wondering where you're getting this from.​


​Oh yeah, the drive to equalize everything.  Probably started in the
sociology department (still clinging to total environmentalism).  Or
cultural anthropology.  You can't say that one culture is better than
another one because that's just provincialism (well, yes, you can and you
can prove it too).​
​  It's all part of the political correctness that hasn't run its course
yet (soon, I hope).
​How can one teach ANY course without some idea of what's better than
something else?

​Dan, the 'given; refers to a post by Giulio, I think.  He says we just
like what we like and that's it by the age of 5.  But studies have shown
that you can learn to like different sorts of music in later life, but that
might very well stop around age 35.

Why read critics?  I read some on Amazon just to see if there is anything
really killer about the book I might buy.  But professional critics has
historically been wrong an enormous number of times, and in fact why should
not enjoy a book I enjoy just because it doesn't meet their standards?
There are a few music critics over the years on American Record Guide that
reliably like the things I like and if they say it's not worth my time, it
usually isn't.

Interesting novel about Henry James and Sherlock Holmes I read sometime
back (sorry I don't remember the title).

I'd love to find a literary critic who doesn't wallow in theory and just
tells how much he enjoys the book, and whose likes are similar to mine.  So
many genres, so many books.  So little time.  bill w
​
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