From: "Michael Dawson
> No, the claim was that porn didn't exist as a _genre_, but emerged
> 1500-1800. Lynn Hunt (and Ken) ddidn't argue that porn didn't exist prior
> to that era. I suspect it's probably an argument very similar to the
> argument that homosexuality, as we understand it today, didn't exist prior
> to the 1800s. Ultimately, whether you buy it or not, there's plenty of
info
> out there on the 'net and in your library, so you can judge Hunt's claims
> for yourself. Maybe we'd even have a much more fruitful conversation than
> what has transpired so far--with some interlocutors unable to grasp the
> basic claim to begin with.
>
> Kelley
What "genre" of printed material _did_ exist before 1500? For that matter, what year did the word "genre" come to life as a way of classifying literature? It can't have been before there were printing presses in copious numbers.
^^^^^
CB: Impliedly, "genre" is being used as a transhistorical category , the status denied to "sex" and "pornography". What is it that makes "genreness" the same in ancient Rome, on the feudal manor and in modern Manhattan ? Is it literary criticism universalism ?
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