Re: Authorial Intent

Thanks for the post, Daniel, and I believe you when you say math gets REALLY
interesting when you get to the point where you have to deal with uncertainties,
where it becomes an art form.

I have a friend that attended two good liberal arts colleges and he told me the
same thing.

My point was that in good liberal arts colleges the sciences get a fair shake,
while in techno/science colleges/universities the humanities Do Not get a fair
shake.

I know this from my experience as a student and a teacher in community colleges,
as a student and a teacher in small liberal arts institutions, and as a student
in a large public university.

I teach composition and philosophy, and know that students don't know enough to
know when they're BSing or when they're really saying something. If you were
"audacious" your humanities professors probably just appreciated that you had
something specific to say, and probably didn't expect you to be able to back it
up completely. But it's hard to say from my vantage point.

Now, re: this paragraph:

<<But to assume that only the professional critic has real insight or thoughtful
or
penetrating things to say about literature is at the core of their negative
perception(?) by many.

Daniel Yocum>>

In all the thousands of words spilt on the subject of literary criticism over
the last several days, I'd like you to show me Just One Instance where Anyone
asserted that "only the professional critic has real insight or thoughtful or
penetrating things to say about literature."

Never happened. I don't know where you're getting this.

I would say that, yes, education does make a difference. That a professional
critic has read a good many of the thoughtful and penetrating things that can be
said about a work of fiction, and knows how and why they are produced. But most
professional critics I know don't think you need to be one to have genuine
insight into a literary text, and don't assume they are coming up with something
thoughtful and penetrating themselves simply because they know the thoughtful
and penetrating insights of others...

Fish is the worst critic to read to get an introductory take on a literary work
:).

Jim

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Received on Mon Oct 28 22:21:16 2002