File spoon-archives/avant-garde.archive/avant-garde_1996/96-11-30.184, message 100


Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 18:53:39 -0500 (EST)
From: George Free <aw570-AT-freenet.toronto.on.ca>
Subject: Re: more on French avant-garde


On Tue, 19 Nov 1996 kkhsim-AT-ix.netcom.com wrote:

> 
> I wonder if their lack of interest is not due to the demands of 
> academia.  Specifically, the necessity of being a specialist in 
> something or someone within the confines of a certain discipline.  And 
> considering the fact that in the United States, academia is the only 
> place where an "intellectual" can dwell, he or she has no choice but 
> to succumb to such rigorous requirements and at times unreasonable 
> expectations.  Its amazing how territorial philosophy departments are, 
> its depressing.
> 
	You're right. Though it offers one of the few places where serious
thought can take place, academia is very confining. There are definite
limits on what is a suitable topic of discussion and what is not.
	What depresses me is that those who pretend to be revolutionaries
in academia (e.g., pomo or poststructuralist types) do not seriously
challenge these limits. I would like to see academics engage the outside
world (social, political or cultural) in a more serious fashion and not
just orient themselves in relation to the inner politics of university
intellectual life. This is unlikely to happen though because one succeeds 
in academia by addressing questions and issues that other academics deem 
suitable.
	Another thing that distresses me is the current academic 
domination of the arts. The whole trend toward "theory" in the late 70s 
and 80s seems to have resulted in an academicization of the arts. The 
work of Barthes, Derrida Foucault etc. became more important to 
understand than the actual experience and practice of the arts. As a 
consequence, younger artists started to model their work after this 
theory, which, ironically, was originally a product of a reflection on 
the avant-garde in France.
	There seems to be a trend a way from "theory" nowadays, but I'm 
not sure if its any healthier. It may just be an anti-intellectual 
reaction. I'm not well informed enough to say.

		regards,
	
		George Free		aw570-AT-torfree.net
		Toronto, Ontario
		Canada



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