Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 01:08:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Howard Hastings <hhasting-AT-osf1.gmu.edu>
Subject: Re: PLC: Literary Saints


On Tue, 15 Aug 2000 zatavu-AT-excite.com wrote:

> >  Slow down now.  One might claim that there is no such thing as a moral or
> >  immoral sunrise without debate.  But when we get to human-made objects 
> >  that are invested with high cultural value, the matter is not so easy.
> The
> >  claim that art transcends morality is a claim as to how works which have
> >  been and continue to be read many different ways should be read.  And
> >  though it gives the aesthetic priority, this by no means implies that
> >  moral judgments play no role what so ever in determinations of beauty. 
> 
> Moral according to whom? WHen? In what culture? What have been considered
> "immoral" literature in the past is considered great "moral" literature and
> vice versa. In the end, literature goes beyond good and evil and becomes
> merely aesthetic (thankfully).

Well, no it doesn't exactly.  You have noted that what is considered moral
or immoral does not remain constant. And you have noted this in relation
to changing literary evaluation.  This does not show that literature "goes
beyond good and evil." 

> >  Seems to me that a poem celebrating the pleasure of raping a child could
> >  be very well written.  The language could be very beautiful.  But I think
> >  that many people who normally separate aesthetic from moral judgment
> might 
> >  still think it was immoral.  It would not likely be included in
> >  high school anthologies any time soon.  Though, of course, it might be
> >  someday.
> 
> THey don't include Mark Twain in many schools, which is ridiculous, and is
> usually based on a misunderstanding of its relation to race. So I don't look
> to schools' decisions as to what is "moral" literature for guidance.

Good for you.  But that doesn't establish that you view art independently
of moral considerations, only that you do not agree with the schools
evaluation.  Back, now, to the point of the passage. Do you think a poem
celebrating the pleasure of raping a child would be immoral if beautifully
written?

hh
.....................................................................



     --- from list phillitcrit-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---