lemme answer in the right order
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Originally Posted by evollove
That what you sayin? If so, then yeah.
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no. see here:
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Originally Posted by evollove
literary works are cultural artifacts from a specific time and place.
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yes, that much is obvious, but...
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Originally Posted by evollove
"Despite the presence of eternal themes,
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i spoke of universal and then denied it because it's too broad. don't know shit about eternal. but i see what you aim at and won't nitpick (yet), but not my word. i'll explain why later. more after this:
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Originally Posted by evollove
As such, some elements may have less impact for someone without any knowledge of the cultural that produced the work."
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no, too succinct and reductive. i rambled wildly because i covered more subjects.
first (this is small) i spoke of transcendence, not the metaphysical grandiose kind just the pedestrian one that says it goes beyond time and place, that outsiders can enjoy. neither everyone can enjoy nor everyone in all times can enjoy-- just some others. so neither universal nor eternal. i avoided that on purpose. but okay.
second, we do have a knowledge of other cultures, even if we don't live in them. so we get some of it.
third, what i was aiming at, is that communities (nation-states among them) adopt certain texts (not all of them, just some chosen ones) as their foundational ones, their touchstones, their cultural spines, not just because they're pretty, but because they grapple with the "problems" (issues, whatever) of the community in its time and place. and while others from outside can read and enjoy, those inside will derive their identity from them and shape the national discourse around it in a way the others don't. which is why italians are always remaking the divine comedy and americans are trying to remake moby dick.
not for nothing j. jonah jameson, i mean jimmy jimerino "kinch the knifeblade" joyce set out to forge in the smithy of his soul the uncreated conscience of his race. he was saying: here be the foundational text for the future irish. and he stole from the greeks! and he put a christ killer as the main character! is that brilliant or what. but the greeks knew nothing of his dead king parnell. neither did i, actually-- i mean i read about him but it's not in my bones. i have no dead king. his english students in paris say that he'd talk all the time about politricks-- he was obsessed with that.
decades later, josé lezama lima would borrow the embedding of each moment with myth from joyce and create something completely different and baroque in his own cuba. and no parnell. but plenty of aristotle.
okay. i hope that clarifies the difference. there is more but i'm also texting furiously at the same time and it's a bit frazzling.