Re: Reactions to the secret vice (was: Steg's wonderful sig.)

Patrick Dunn wrote:
>
> On Sun, 7 Nov 1999, Sally Caves wrote:
>
> > Okay.  That in itself is a little harsh.  Some of our fiercest critics
> > come from the "fantasy crowd," Dan.  I told everybody the story
> > of my trip to Albacon where a fellow writer calmly denounced the
> > whole obsession of language invention as completely uninteresting
> > and wasteful.  Why invent languages down to the very participle when
> > you could be spending that time writing about your fantasy worlds in
> > exquisite novels that millions of people could understand and would
> > earn you money?  YOu know, she's got a point.  I've pondered it.
>
> Because it brings me joy to invent a word that means "not entirely
> unpleasant sadness, with a connotation of thoughtfulness".  I also write
> poetry, which millions of people will never read (I'm lucky if a hundred
> people read one of my poems!), and which have never earned me money and
> never will.
A hundred?  Wow! Then you might as well have published in HazMat
Magazine.
;-)  You see, I've published a little and earned money from it, and
once bitten... sigh.  I'm proud of all eight fictions, not all of them
having
the same circulation by far.  In the long run, I'd rather be published
than not for creations that I take joy in.  I, too, have written tons
of material that hasn't been published,and the work to get it published
is backbreaking and almost undoable.  Why do you think I put my conlang
on a website?  That can't be "published" in the conventional sense, and
it's not as yet a recognized artform, so I published it
unconventionally.
I'm in the publish or perish industry.  But it has some fairly strict
requirements and tolerances.  What's your flavor of academia?

> > But I would hope that the rest of us can also be open-minded of our
> > skeptics and our critics.  My friend thinks "language" and, like me,
> > he is immediately put in mind of years and years of learning how proto-
> > Germanic turned into Old English, Old High German, Old Norse, etc. etc.
> > And all that ghastly Latin!  (pace, Ray.  I never liked it!!!  Never!
> > Individual passages in Latin, individual authors, but never in toto)
> > He is hyper-aware of the building blocks of language and language
> > change.  And language dimension.  I don't fault him at all.  I think
> > I would find myself a little silly if I heard me confiding in me about
> > this.  <G>  Not everybody has to drop to their knees in amazement and
> > joy when they hear we are doing something like this.  At the same time,
> > it galls me when I hear criticism of it.  Arm chair psychologists
> > indeed!
>
> Never liked Latin?  Mmm.  Suddenly, your taste is suspect.  ;)  J/k.
Grrrr!  <G>

Let me repeat, Patrick: "But I would hope that the rest of us can also
be
open-minded about our skeptics and our critics."

Who the parro~ka are you, hon, ;-) ;-) for setting the standard for
taste and why should mine cohere with yours? ;-);-);-) ;-)  I can love
Catullus or Horace for what they do in Latin, but Latin doesn't have
to be my favorite language.  I much prefer medieval Welsh, and
if that makes me a barbarian in your eyes, well go sink yourself in the
Aeneid; I'll stay here with the Gododdin and howl with the warriors.
And mind you... I'm being open-minded about it, so you be too!

Wolfin.


> My point is, maybe you're right that your reputation would be harmed by
> "coming out of the conlang closet," as it were, but then, maybe you're
> not.  Of course, I have no academic reputation to speak of -- maybe that's
> why it isn't ruined.  After all, we academic types are supposed to be
> quirky and eccentric.  Wouldn't want to disappoint expectations, would we?
Actually, academics within academia are like any group that has to pay
attention to respected conventions.  Derelictions are punished.
Achievements
within the scope of the academic community are rewarded.  It depends on
how
much you want to (or can) stretch the envelope.  Hard row to hoe.  We'll
see
what they say in Texas.

Good naturedly, Sal.
--
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SALLY CAVES
scaves@frontiernet.net
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves (bragpage)
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html (T. homepage)
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/contents.html (all else)
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Niffodyr tweluenrem lis teuim an.
"The gods have retractible claws."
                                from _The Gospel of Bastet_
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