Re: A Sensibility of Worth

Ah, but Jim, now you're just haggling.

I could have just as easily have said "an episode of The West Wing" as named
Keats and the problems would not have gone away. There'd still be the
counting, there'd still be the undecidable ability of the bricoleur to create tools,
there'd still be the echoing "To whom?" And I could have done the same then,
with last night's "Survivor" finale and/or last night's *Angels in America*,
and then with a song, like the OutKast one. And then, yes, with an ad or a
series of ads. The problems would remain.

And still I have not seen anyone offer a compelling reason why we are bound
to decide; why we can't choose to respect the multiplicity of possible moments
with possible texts and the heterogeneity of historical and personal
experiences within acts of reading.

But I can see I am not going to stop you or Robbie (or so many others) from
stipulating the definitions and drawing the lines and measuring the worth (as
if texts were stocks and bonds) and determining "more" and "less" and creating
the lists of what goes in and what does not and insisting on the categories.
Well, it's that time of year, when all the newspapers and magazines get into
the ranking business. So I guess it's a desire that must be fulfilled by some.

Enjoy, but I don't want any part of that game, especially not with art (or
love).

I'm off to buy presents.

All the best,

--John

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Received on Mon Dec 15 12:52:21 2003