True - all books aren't literature - some are merely "pulp" - or "paint-by-numbers" as I like to call them - formula works designed to entertain.
Harelquin romance novels, dime-store sci-fi, cozies, or those paint-by-numbers posters you get at the local Wal-mart.
That said, a harelquin romance can become art. Just as a dime-store sci-fi.
So how do you define "art"? Is it by style? Substance? Can you even place an objective qualifier on it?
And who should be the judge? Someone with multiple degrees or a PHd in art, literature, or what have you? Or a guy who barely has a high school diploma, but picked say - Huckleberry Finn and had an epiphany?
What is art? Is it a subjective thing? Is it in the eye of the beholder? Some people adore Jackson Pollack, but if they had a choice between putting Pollack up in their house and their kid's watercolor, they might pick their kid's watercolor. Is Pollack art? According to the "experts" with their degrees - he is. It reminds me a bit of Wizard of OZ - when the Wizard tells the scarecrow - he'll give him a college degree and this means he has a brain. The Wizard of OZ was not always considered literature by the way.
To me, art is not about form. It's not something that comes out of a set group of rules or standards made up by a committee of highly educated people who may or may not have created anything in their lives, but rather something that comes from the heart of the person creating it. Their voice, their thoughts, their experience, honest and true of themselves. I once had a creative writing professor who told us - don't write unless you feel you have something to say. And I remember while watching the movie Capote - Capote told his friend Harper Lee that her book was a fun read but he would hardly consider it literature or "art" - it did not live up to what he wrote. Yet, yet, over 20 years later, many school children have been assigned to read To Kill A Mockingbird in their classrooms. And unlike Melville's Moby Dick, which people often will hunt the cliff-notes for because they feel tortured by Melville's dense prose, they've fallen in love with the simplicity and heart behind Lee's writing. Lee wrote only one book. It was her story. And it was based upon her experience. And it told a good story, a thrilling one. It was art.
Yes, it is true there are many books and tv shows that I don't consider art or for that matter particularly entertaining - I hesistate at times to judge them as less than art. OTOH - there are shows that pretend to be no more than they are, just soaps, just pure mass entertainment, money making ventures. And there's nothing wrong with that either. Many children and adults cut their reading teeth on such things.
Do have a question for you - do you consider the Nancy Drew Mysteries written by multiple writers under one psuedonyme, literature or fiction? I'd say fiction. Except, except, these mysteries have lasted decades. The stories handed down from generation to generation - and have inspired numerous tv and movies - including most recently, Veronica Mars. So wouldn't that make it art?
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branchandroot
How do we define art?
Date: 2006-05-24 06:25 pm (UTC)Harelquin romance novels, dime-store sci-fi, cozies, or those paint-by-numbers posters you get at the local Wal-mart.
That said, a harelquin romance can become art. Just as a dime-store sci-fi.
So how do you define "art"? Is it by style? Substance? Can you even place an objective qualifier on it?
And who should be the judge? Someone with multiple degrees or a PHd in art, literature, or what have you? Or a guy who barely has a high school diploma, but picked say - Huckleberry Finn and had an epiphany?
What is art? Is it a subjective thing? Is it in the eye of the beholder?
Some people adore Jackson Pollack, but if they had a choice between putting Pollack up in their house and their kid's watercolor, they might pick their kid's watercolor. Is Pollack art? According to the "experts" with their degrees - he is. It reminds me a bit of Wizard of OZ - when the Wizard tells the scarecrow - he'll give him a college degree and this means he has a brain. The Wizard of OZ was not always considered literature by the way.
To me, art is not about form. It's not something that comes out of a set group of rules or standards made up by a committee of highly educated people who may or may not have created anything in their lives, but rather something that comes from the heart of the person creating it. Their voice, their thoughts, their experience, honest and true of themselves. I once had a creative writing professor who told us - don't write unless you feel you have something to say. And I remember while watching the movie Capote - Capote told his friend Harper Lee that her book was a fun read but he would hardly consider it literature or "art" - it did not live up to what he wrote. Yet, yet, over 20 years later, many school children have been assigned to read To Kill A Mockingbird in their classrooms. And unlike Melville's Moby Dick, which people often will hunt the cliff-notes for because they feel tortured by Melville's dense prose, they've fallen in love with the simplicity and heart behind Lee's writing. Lee wrote only one book.
It was her story. And it was based upon her experience. And it told a good story, a thrilling one. It was art.
Yes, it is true there are many books and tv shows that I don't consider art or for that matter particularly entertaining - I hesistate at times to judge them as less than art. OTOH - there are shows that pretend to be no more than they are, just soaps, just pure mass entertainment, money making ventures. And there's nothing wrong with that either. Many children and adults cut their reading teeth on such things.
Do have a question for you - do you consider the Nancy Drew Mysteries written by multiple writers under one psuedonyme, literature or fiction?
I'd say fiction. Except, except, these mysteries have lasted decades. The stories handed down from generation to generation - and have inspired numerous tv and movies - including most recently, Veronica Mars. So wouldn't that make it art?