Re: Warranty

J J R (jrovira@juno.com)
Thu, 10 Dec 1998 13:08:00 -0500 (EST) 

Yeah, see, this is an area where we see things differently.  I agree that
anyone can have an opinion without consulting other sources.  I just
don't think their opinion will mean anything, or that I'll have any
reason to have any respect for it at all.  I respect Octavio Paz's
opinions on modernism in art because he creates art at a pretty
sophisticated level.  And it's possible your instructor chose to focus on
him because he may be representative of a lot of people on the subject.  

Part of my problem with French's book may be that I didn't approach it
with the right expectations... :)

Jim


On Thu, 10 Dec 1998 16:03:50 +1100 Camille Scaysbrook
<verona_beach@geocities.com> writes:
>J J R wrote:
>> Nah...I think you both may not be giving your instructors enough 
>credit. 
>> If I were teaching a course involving Paz and Derrida, I'd first 
>want to
>> see my students present a valid reading of either of them before I 
>heard
>> the opinion of a student on the subjects those authors addressed.  
>It's
>> almost the same type of complaint I had about Warren French.  Let me 
>hear
>> everyone else's opinion first--show me that you understand all the 
>other
>> points of view--THEN I'll listen to yours.
>
>Well, yes and no. I don't think you necessarily have to know the other
>opinions to form your own, although sometimes it helps to know what 
>you're
>up against (: . What I *did* object to though was the fact that he was 
>not
>at all interested in my own opinions, which I attempted to form as
>independently from the critics as possible, where it would have in 
>fact
>been easier for me to just summarise their opinions. This was supposed 
>to
>be a course on Modernism in Art, which was a misnomer - we barely 
>studied a
>picture the whole time - all it was really was a Paz Comprehension 
>Test, a
>What Critics Say About Modernism In Art 101. 
>
>In the case of Warren French (and I quite liked his book without 
>finding it
>spectacular) he had a slightly different task at hand and yes, it 
>might
>have been more productive to touch upon all the major strands of 
>thought in
>a book such as his. There's nothing I hate more than (and I'm not
>necessarily accusing French of this) biographers and critics saying 
>`And
>then of course there was book/album/movie X which as we all know was
>godawful' when I'm saying `Hey! Well actually I happen to think it's 
>pretty
>darn good!' I think in the case of biography it should be all or 
>nothing -
>the biographer should always be there or he/she never should. If it's 
>50-50
>it just gets distracting and annoying.
>
>Camille
>verona_beach@geocities.com
>@ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
>@ THE INVERTED FOREST www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest
>

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