Re: D.J.Taylor

Thanks much. Good article, I essentially agree with his point about
direct political activism, and he's right that journalism is more likely
to have a direct, immediate effect than literature. But once he says this:

> In an environment where art has lost all formal influence, all the
> writer can do is to keep on writing, in the hope that somehow he or
> she can make an impact at bedrock, on the series of individual moral
> sensibilities that read books.

he's let the cat out of the bag about the political influence of
literature. "Individual moral sensibilities" inform our politics, you
know. You can withdraw from public life completely, refuse to even
discuss political matters, never vote, but where you live still
determines where your property taxes go, and what you buy lines the
pockets of corporations that do very much influence politics -- and are
also a reflection of ulimate political allegiances.

We could make this really interesting and talk specfically about how
these allegiances are reflected in our language.

Jim

Scottie Bowman wrote:

> For what he's worth, DJ Taylor seems to be at:
>
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1007773,00.html
>
>
> Scottie B.
>
>

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Received on Tue Jul 29 11:11:07 2003