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great art

I get the idea y'all maybe exhausted this subject a while ago, and, if
so, please skip this. . . 

*Of course* judgements of art are always highly subjective.  But some
things are definitely, objectively better than others.  Case: The Great
Gatsby is definitely a greater piece of literature than were any of the
Hardy Boys books I read growing up.  Now, I really dug the Hardy Boys,
but they're never gonna touch Gatsby.  You can say, "I didn't like
Gatsby, so there," but it won't change what the book is, how the book has
been confirmed by a few generations of readers now, the overwhelming
number of things that can be listed in its favor.  

Somebody out there may prefer Michael Bolton's ouevre to Good Dog Bad
Dog.  I would contend, though, that should MB be measured against GDBD,
the overwhelming conclusion would be that GDBD is the superior piece of
work.  (I know that objectively we can say some things about the quality
of MB's production, basic qualities of his voice that are positive; but
the scale is going to tip toward GDBD.)

We can run circles around each other debating the nature of objectivity
(or subjectivity), of course.  There are any number of standard
approaches to that, starting with that Revenge of the Nerds scene: "What
if C-A-T really spells Dog?"  We can argue pretty easily that what is
considered beautiful in one culture is considered ugly in another.  But
then we're doing the old apples and oranges thing.  A five year old will
have a low opinion of Gatsby as bedtime material.  Someone without
literacy, without experience of books, without a sense of what novels
are, might have no use at all for Gatsby.  But that's pretty irrelvant. 
The point is that among those who are most familiar with books, novels,
fiction writing, Gatsby almost always gets props.  It's gone beyond fluke
here.  We could try to argue that people like Fitzgerald, or like
Shakespeare, are simply famous for being famous, that we respect them
because we're told to.  In answer I have to say: have you read
Shakespeare's contemporaries?  He shines in his milieu.  And Gatsby
shines among novels. 

I almost went on for another three paragraphs--I could feel it; but I
wanna stop before I get too metaphysical.  I'm just saying that it's
counterintuitive to claim that all judgements of greatness are subjective
in the sense that such judgements would always be considered light as a
feather, of no real importance. 

By the way, Gatsby should be re-read after the age of 21, especially if 
you were subjected to one of those month-long high school class torture
sessions.  Gatsby should take maybe a couple of days to read.  Stretched
over weeks it doesn't work.  It's also got themes and resonances that are
hard to understand until you've known a few truly disappointed people,
and a few married people, too.

FWIW, That is all,

Fred

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