[lbo-talk] Original sources

[Wojtek S]

cb: "The situation of the professorate, especially in the US where
publishing "original" writing is necessary to avoid "perishing", has a
dynamic by which professors have to promote their own writing about
classic or major writings.    It is untenable to just have students
read famous books and teach them. Over the years the derivative
literary critical works accumulate, and the past ones must be endorsed
by the present professors as a basis for endorsement of their own
writings. Can't blame the professors. They are driven by economic
self-interest and need . Don't cha think ?"

[WS:} You are absolutely right.  The cult of the original was created
by the certain mode of production of intellectual commodity and
intellectual property rights.  Back in the middle ages, scholars and
writers did not subscribe to the same principles - they borrowed from
other writers rather freely.

But having said this, I do not think this addresses what Joanna had in
in mind, at least as I see it.  Looking at documents created in a
particular social-historical milieu can give you a lot of information
about that milieu that will otherwise be lost in translation.  It is
kind of like meeting someone in person, and communicating with him/her
via the internet.

Wojtek