"Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value judgments"
I have many problems with this definition. It is impossible to re-create the reality. What we do in art? We create a new one based on information we are able to get from the existing environment. What is metaphysical value? Boris Shoshensky To: [email protected] Subject: Ayn Rand: Romantic Manifesto : Conclusion Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:26:07 GMT The good news about this "Philosophy of Literature" is that Rand aims for clarity in writing, and does not share the modern academic taste for paradox, ambiguity, and double-talk. The other good news is that Rand is an original. She sets her own canon and the principles that would justify if, and boldly states (and re-states) her own definition of art: "Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value judgments" I think Bruce Attah was the last person to make such an attempt on this listerserve, and after the barrage of responses , , he hasn't been heard from ever since. The bad news is that her concerns are so narrow, this book serves better as an artist's statement than as a philosophy of art, and from what I can find on the Internet, even her devotees show little concern for identifying the kind of literature which Rand thinks is so important: i.e. the "Romantic" Is the story built around a hero and how he exemplifies certain ideals based on metaphysical values, If so, Rand would call such literature "Romantic" and if the ideals are good, the metaphysics are true, and the story is well told, it can reach the pinnacle of human artistic expression. The problem is that so many of us find that kind of thing boring. Either we like the "bootleg Romanticism" of pulp fiction, or, like myself, we prefer what Rand would call "Naturalism", and, unfortunately, Rand does not discuss (and presumably does not care) how one "Naturalistic" or "Bootleg Romantic" novel might be considered better than another. She suggests that there is a "science of aesthetics", but she offers no details of its theories and no examples of their application. So, like the rest of us on this listserv, she's just one more chatty person with some opinions. Which is not a bad thing. ____________________________________________________________ Best Weight Loss Program - Click Here! http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/BLSrjnxRO9o5NngiJegWlB6g3SUYb4 9BwqHs0fmNquWeT9kLcs0RPLkDHHq/
