"Science of aesthetics' is unteachable, in my understanding/
mando
On Sep 14, 2009, at 8:26 AM, Chris Miller wrote:
The good news about this "Philosophy of Literature" is that Rand
aims for
clarity in writing, and does not share the modern academic taste for
paradox, ambiguity, and double-talk.
The other good news is that Rand is an original. She sets her own
canon and
the principles that would justify if, and boldly states (and re-
states) her
own definition of art:
"Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's
metaphysical value judgments"
I think Bruce Attah was the last person to make such an attempt on
this
listerserve, and after the barrage of responses , , he hasn't been
heard from
ever since.
The bad news is that her concerns are so narrow, this book serves
better as an
artist's statement than as a philosophy of art, and from what I can
find on
the Internet, even her devotees show little concern for identifying
the kind
of literature which Rand thinks is so important: i.e. the "Romantic"
Is the story built around a hero and how he exemplifies certain
ideals based
on metaphysical values,
If so, Rand would call such literature "Romantic" and if the ideals
are good,
the metaphysics are true, and the story is well told, it can reach the
pinnacle of human artistic expression.
The problem is that so many of us find that kind of thing boring.
Either we like the "bootleg Romanticism" of pulp fiction, or, like
myself, we
prefer what Rand would call
"Naturalism", and, unfortunately, Rand does not discuss (and
presumably does
not care) how one "Naturalistic" or "Bootleg Romantic" novel might be
considered better than another.
She suggests that there is a "science of aesthetics", but she
offers no
details of its theories and no examples of their application.
So, like the rest of us on this listserv, she's just one more
chatty person
with some opinions.
Which is not a bad thing.
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