"Typical rare bird"? Who the hell do you think you are? I
don't know what your tiny hatred-fueled sun of a deformed
sensibility thinks I "stand for," but your words are far too
uncivil for me to go on without *flaming* you in response to
yours, & so I thus christen you "Sauron," will from now
on address you as such, and say adios. Rob
----- Original Message ---- From: JIM DOHERTY <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com> To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, November 6,
2007 3:08:38 AM Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: The definition of
literature
Robert,
Re your responses to comments of mine"
"There are a few 'academics,' official & not, who
read
& contribute to this list; I am one. There must be
some way for you to make your points other than by
attacking & insulting all of us, I would think."
Nope. Sorry. Can't be done. I despise all of you to
the length and breadth and depth and marrow of my
sould and I hate everything you all stand for with the
heat of a thousand suns.
(All of this notwithstanding the fact that I'm now at
least a "semi-official" academic since I've taught
literature courses on the 'Net, and will be teaching
courses on film and true crime at a local college come
2008 [presuming enough people sign up for the
courses]).
"2) While EW's shortcomings are well-documented (see
his contretemps with Nabokov over Eugene Onegin), &
his equivocation here may indeed be silly,
'transcending genre' is neither a difficult concept
nor a particularly disputed one, & is often quite
convenient in separating rote genre exercises from
more literary efforts. We use the concept on this list
constantly, although without straight utterance of the
cliche of which you're so dismissive."
The implication of the phrase is that the "genre" is
something that has to be escaped from, which is
insulting to the genre and condescending to the
specific piece.
A typical Rare Bird, on the other hand, might say that
a particular novel or story is far better than the run
of the mill, but few would say, either implictily or
explictly, that a piece's higher quality make it
something other than a genre piece.
Few here would suggest, for example, that THE MALTESE
FALCON or THE BIG SLEEP are examples of something
separate and distinct from a private eye novel, that
THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD is something other
than a spy novel, or that THE NEW CENTURIONS is
something other than a cop novel. We'd probably be
more likely to say that they very good examples of the
form precisely because they've plumbed the novelistic
possibilities of the form that most others miss or
don't even try for.
JIM DOHERTY
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