Re: brouhaha

Good response, I love narrowing things down. Let's just work on this
one (and I realize I'm cutting things from your post too, so I don't
address something you think is important, bring it up again):

L. Manning Vines wrote:

>I am only (only!) suggesting that it is not unreasonable -- nothing more
>than this, but that it is not unreasonable -- to allow preference for
>readings on the basis of "specific cultural references, etc., meaningful to
>the author," even without justifying this practice.
>

Let me suggest an idea: The answers you get are determined by the
questions you ask.

Let me suggest a related idea: The questions you ask are determined by
the answers you want to get.

I would prefer, for these reasons, not to say "reading strategy X is
_the_ accepted reading strategy" without being able to answer this
question as well: "For what purpose?"

The reading I gave of _The Odyssey_ led to descriptions of the social
function of the epic (and what the epic says about the society that
created it), the creation of the individual as an individual, what role
"enlightenment" plays in the indivdiual life, etc. None of these
questions could be asked if we limited Homer's text to Homer's context.

This is the reason I prefer not to limit the context of a text. Now, if
I want to learn about Homer or the editors and their culture, well, then
I would limit the text to its context. It's just that sometimes, I want
to learn about other things too.

Jim

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
Received on Tue Apr 22 10:45:33 2003