Art and Lies notes: The short story comes into existence around 1800. In the current state of literature in education, the canon has been blown apart, and there is a huge rise in "cultural studies". People became aware of the politics of literature - teachers can exclude based on their personal preference or bias. Isn't this the basis of any study in history? The saying "history is written by the victors" is somewhat true, but a more accurate account would be "history is written by the academics in the field". Cultural studies people may have taken this too far - often suggesting there is no great art.
What makes art great? Ralph Waldo Emerson believes that when someone reads and adores authors, they get the return of their own alienated majesty: a projection; we're afraid to see how great or how bad we are. Attention is a limited commodity: this is the way we evaluate art.
A goal of class: when you don't initially like or understand something, maybe first blame yourself: "maybe I need to learn more..."
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