What makes Art Good is whether it comes up to the variable and changing standards adopted by these groups. The standards themselves are always up for grabs.
Cultured people, so called, are people who have reasonable familiarity with several sets of standards, some knowledge of how they are applied, and some awareness of and ability to talk about central exemplars of what various art communities have considered to be especially good or important.
(This is straight, unadulterated pragmatism.)
--- Alex <zap_path at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- bitch at pulpculture.org wrote:
>
> > see, in my efforts to become cultured, I have
> asked you wankers over and
> > over again, how on earth do you know what Capital
> A Art is anyway. And it's
> > not just you, but the folks with art and lit
> backgrounds at the Pulp
> > Culture list: everyone who's ever insisted that
> there is such as thing as
> > timeless Art or even hinted at it. The best answer
> I've ever gotten is
> > something stupidly pithy like, "It speaks to a
> universal
> > experience." Whatev. I think people who say such
> things are utterly full
> > of shit. Art is what people define as art and as
> andie suggests, to be seen
> > as Capital A art, there always had to be
> gatekeepers to define what belongs
> > and what doesn't: A supremely human endeavor and
> certainly nothing etched
> > into the universe as Essence.
>
> Yup. There's a good book that's makes this argument
> among others: "What Good
> Are the Arts?" by John Carey.
>
> -Alex
>
>
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail
> beta.
> http://new.mail.yahoo.com
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html