At 05:16 PM 29/08/2006 +0100, you wrote:
>A 'lesson', you say, Kerry? I'm sure there are many
novelists who would be
>mortified to hear that they're giving lessons in
morality. I certainly am.
>I hate didacticism. Apart from which, I'm unqualified
as a moralist, being
>as how I'm a sick bastard. Doesn't stop me telling
stories, though.
>Probably helps a little.
Sorry Al, you can't get around it. Your work reflects values
from your culture, either reinforcing them or challenging
them as a consequence. You might not have intended to
instruct me that nice guys don't hit their friends with a
baseball bat, but you did. Mind you, that pretty much
confirmed suspicions I already held, but then I tend to
empathize with innocent victims even though I don't believe
such a creature exists in
"real" life.
Of course, I could be wrong about this. Maybe being nice
doesn't matter, and folk can get ahead by threatening their
friends with a baseball bat and that's all that counts, but I
don't think your "Kiss Her Goodbye" supported that idea. Of
course, I could be wrong about that too.
I don't mean to suggest that writers intend to instruct. Only
that any literature (and I use the word broadly- anything
that has been published in one form or another) inherently
reflects values from its culture, positively or negatively.
If the baseball bat had no purpose of effect in Kiss Her
Goodbye, you wouldn't have used it, because then the book
would have been as entertaining as it was. Kevin might have
argued that it is unreal to have people threaten their
associates without some weapon at hand. Or otherwise.
A shameless attempt at self-promotion, even by a sick
bastard, affirms the value of shameless self-promotion, by
it's mere existence. I could debate that further, of course,
but it would simply be more of the same. You're right about
didacticism though. The tone's off-putting (he said
didactically.)
one sick bastard to another, Kerry
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Kerry J. Schooley
>To: <mailto:rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com>
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
>Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 4:25 PM
>Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Name Your
Poison
>
>At 07:52 PM 28/08/2006 -0400, you wrote:
>
> >And, of course, there's entertainment. It's
awfully puritanical to
> >claim literature must give a moral
lesson.
>
>I don't think the question is whether literature
should give a moral lesson
>so much as that it does and unavoidably
so.
>
>Literature is produced within a culture and one way
or another it addresses
>the values of that culture, often by assumption, as
it must to be taken as
>"real" or "meaningful" or even "entertaining" by its
consumers.
>
>Culture defines reality or truth for its members.
Morals are the guidelines
>for dealing with those realities. These truths and
morals vary from culture
>to culture, and in large, complex cultures, there is
room for variation
>within as well. Specific morals may prove to be wrong
and the culture carry
>on, but in the long run, any culture without
sufficient values and morals
>to support its survival will disappear, along with
its literature.
>Individuals that leave their culture, never to
return, are dead to that
>culture. If they do return and write about their
experiences, they've
>returned to the debate about cultural
values.
>
>Among the prime values of western civilization are
those that support
>communication. The culture of communications has
grown so large and complex
>it supports increasing numbers of competing truths,
values, morals. By
>understanding that its content is composed of these
"competing truths" or,
>if you prefer, lies, fiction becomes the only
truthful literary form.
>
>my two cents and welcome to it,
>Kerry
>
>------------------------------------------------------
>Literary events Calendar (South Ont.)
><http://www.lit-electric.com>http://www.lit-electric.com
>The evil men do lives after them
><http://www.murderoutthere.com>http://www.murderoutthere.com
>------------------------------------------------------
>
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Literary events Calendar (South Ont.) http://www.lit-electric.com
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