From: G*rd*n <gcf-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: low vs high
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 20:59:23 -7700 (EST)


Wayne B Youngblood:
> I see the Ebonics debate as a symbol of lobrow art battling highbrow. 
> Robert Williams, Crumb, and other underground artists may finally get 
> the respect they deserve in the established art world.

The lowbrow position in this one (that Black English
Vernacular was not a language, and should not be 
recognized in schools, etc.) was authoritarian and 
therefore uninteresting.  Cracker-barrel authoritari-
anism is not very much fun; authority is exciting 
only when it dresses up in nice uniforms, and then 
only in the movies.  The highbrow position (as 
earnestly recited by ignored linguists) was not 
much more interesting, although it had the virtue
of a possessing a little science.

I'm interested, though, in how this controversy might 
affect the established art world.  Didn't pop make it 
over a long time ago?  The most recent thing I've seen 
by Crumb was his treatment of Kafka, which has the 
assurance of familiarity and general approbation --
a Classics Comic book for pseudointellectuals like me.



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