Twain, Part One and more

[David Morris]

>From: Bandwraith at aol.com
>
>fqmorris at hotmail.com writes:
>
>[In the same regard then it is exploitive of YOU - either actively or 
>passively - to do anything other than model your life after that of Mother 
>Teresa.  Going to your nine-to-five is capitalizing on the fact that the 
>poor and uneducated can't get your nine-to-five.  Such a criticism is both 
>hypocritical and silly.]
>
>I think it is part and parcel of the Bersani/Art as Authority question that 
>Monroe presented awhile back. Around then, I started trying to imagine what 
>a purely non-exploitative work of art would be like and was led to the 
>absurd conclusion that maybe completely ignoring the audience was a way of 
>achieving it. I'm not sure.

Oh.  I didn't follow that thread nor connect your posts with it, but from 
the bit I've picked up I still don't think your application is the necessary 
implication of that argument.  If the art(ist) is not "authortaitive" does 
it/he then become "exploitative?"  Why not just let it be?  Why pejorative 
judgment?  (I know.  Critics will be critics.)

>[Jim was a fictional character.  Twain was a writer, not a nun.  Were real 
>black people hurt by his writing?  Were they helped?  What have YOU done to 
>help lately?]
>
>It is the fictional Jim which became the norm, the standard for the 
>audience.  What about the real Jim(s) is the question I'm asking, and 
>including some of what is known about the real Samuel Clemens.

What about them?  If Clemens sought to portray him with an intended 
authoritative message, does that relieve him of the guilt you imply, or does 
it compound it?  Was his "normative" Jim harmful to the real Jim(s)?  Should 
he have just become a nun instead?

>What have I done? Not much, contributed to th p-list is about all. Judge 
>away.

Well it seems to me you've been doing the judging.  Why are artists held to 
so harsh a standard, but not you or me?  I don't believe lack of authority 
in art implies depravity.  If so, we're all (except dear-departed Mother 
Teresa) depraved.

Or maybe I've missed your point entirely.  Is it:  Beauty without Authority 
equals Depravity?

David Morris

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