[ilds] Lush Style

[william godshalk]

>"And those faults are legitimate faults and have nothing to do with 
>changes in artistic tastes."

Bruce you could change "faults" to "characteristics." One writer's 
fault is another writer's glory.

Bill



>Bruce
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
> >From: slighcl <slighcl at wfu.edu>
> >Sent: Feb 12, 2008 6:39 AM
> >To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
> >Subject: Re: [ilds] an assassin of polish
> >
> >On 2/12/2008 3:26 AM, Production/Licensing wrote:
> >>  Burgess did however include the Alexandria Quartet in his "99 Novels.
> >> The Best In English Since 1939" (NY, Summit Books 1984) - so was
> >> obviously ambivalent about the "exotic escapism" .  It's interesting
> >> that Burgess was writing his  own Malayan Trilogy at the same time as
> >> Durrell was writing the AQ - the end of the 1950s - and similar
> >> criticisms were leveled at Burgess's books.
> >>
> >Thanks, Steve.  I know much, much less about Burgess than I should, so I
> >appreciate the context.  And we should remind ourselves again that
> >Burgess was intimate with one of Durrell's translators. . . .
> >
> >I would say that Burgess's evaluation of Durrell's style is, all in all,
> >a positive appreciation.  (Read in context of the original chapter, I
> >think this appreciation comes out.)  In my earlier remarks I was noting
> >the curious tic I find in many evaluations of Durrell by Burgess and
> >lesser critics.  That is, I wonder why "decadence" is off limits or a
> >bad thing that "mature" writers need to swear off, a "phase" out of
> >which they should grow.
> >
> >I find that a very false, progressivist sort of vision of writers and
> >styles.  It tells me that there is a rather narrow assumption about the
> >"development" of literary history and individual style.
> >
> >It used to be fashionable to say that Yeats had to outgrow an early
> >'Pre-Raphaelite' phase in order to discover his "true voice."
> >Writers--Durrell included--may of course have different "phases"--some
> >of which we enjoy as readers according to our own tastes and criteria,
> >some of which we may regret for other reasons.
> >
> >But this cautioning of Durrell and flagging of Durrell for a "too lush"
> >or "too exotic" style seems to measure him according to standards that
> >blind us to the particular qualities of his works--they keep a critic
> >busy citing Durrell for not writing post-Hemingway, but they do not
> >advance our knowledge and appreciation of Durrell-as-Durrell.
> >
> >Oh my. . . .
> >
> >And I failed to include the names of Rudyard Kipling and Walter Pater in
> >my earlier post on important late Victorian influences upon Durrell.
> >What a delight that Durrell can make his own uses of "Baa Baa, Black
> >Sheep," /Kim/, and Pater's reverie on Da Vinci's La Gioconda.  In the
> >old standard histories, Pater and Wilde were penned safely on one side
> >of 1895--the year of the trial--and Kipling & Co. kept on the other
> >side--in a moment moving toward the Second Boer War.  I like the way
> >that Durrell is both cosmopolitan and cranky enough to have done with
> >fences and draw upon the full resources of all of his precursors. . . .
> >
> >Charles
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>ILDS mailing list
>ILDS at lists.uvic.ca
>https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds

***************************************
W. L. Godshalk		*
Department of English         *
University of Cincinnati            Stellar disorder  *
Cincinnati OH 45221-0069      *
513-281-5927
***************************************