Re: OT: art and language and THE DAVINCI CODE

Sally Caves scripsit:

> He wants everything in black and white, and he wants to support the odious
> theory that since he can explain to you what an isoceles triangle is, you
> ought to be able to explain to him what a good piece of literature is.
While standing on one foot, no doubt.

> So
> while we're eating sushi and having a convivial time, the conversation comes
> round to teaching genres of science fiction, a genre he "hates,"
Nobody is fit to judge any genre which they do not wholeheartedly like; the
way in which we condemn a genre, as Frye noted, is to say that all the works
in it are exactly alike.

> You see, when Bob wants to engage you in a discussion of something, it's
> usually to prove you wrong,
I often run into this problem when talking politics and related things: I can't
get people to understand that I am talking to explain myself, not to convince
them of the rightness of my viewpoint.

"The fact that I was not dueling with [King] Argaven, but attempting to
communicate with him, was itself an incommunicable fact."
        --Genly Ai in _The Left Hand of Darkness_

--
John Cowan  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com  jcowan@reutershealth.com
In might the Feanorians / that swore the unforgotten oath
brought war into Arvernien / with burning and with broken troth.
and Elwing from her fastness dim / then cast her in the waters wide,
but like a mew was swiftly borne, / uplifted o'er the roaring tide.
        --the Earendillinwe