Re: A Sensibility of Worth

Jim writes:
<< We could extend estimations of worth for pedagogical purposes to how the
literature exemplifies the good use of language: worth as a teaching device
in rhetorical instruction. I think this is the background to Robbie's
approach to the issue of worth, even if he doesn't necessarily hold to this
idea itself. >>

Fair enough.

To add to your suggestions of different "worths," I would propose an
estimation of it according to how competently, extensively, or thoughfully
the literature illustrates or explores aspects of the human condition.
Perhaps I differ from John O. for suspecting that there IS such a condition,
or that behind the very different conditions of an ancient warrior, a
wealthy New York teenager in the 1930s, and myself, there remains a
substantial common condition as well. But this was the "worth" I had in
mind when I placed Kafka and Stephen King on opposite ends of a continuum,
and I think it applies just as well for estimations of Scottie's example,
and even for John's. It is on this basis, however vague, that I judge the
primary greater worth of Tom Waits over Britney Spears, and of Shakespeare
over Tom Clancy. If you can only grant that this common condition might
exist, I submit that this particular "worth" is one of the greatest factors
contributing to the duration of any literature -- and thus that duration is
at least a fair indicator of this sort of worth, or at any rate a better one
than contemporary opinion.

-Robbie
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Received on Mon Dec 15 02:18:32 2003