“Tastes differ so widely, and some people are so humorless, so uncharitable, and so absurdly wrong-headed, that one would probably do far better to relax and enjoy life than worry oneself to death trying to instruct or entertain a public which will only despise one’s efforts, or at least feel no gratitude for them. Most readers know nothing about literature–many regard it with contempt. Lowbrows find everything heavy-going that isn’t completely low-brow. Highbrows reject everything as vulgar that isn’t a mass of archaisms. Some only like the classics, others only their own works. Some are so grimly serious that they disapprove of all humor, others so half-witted that they can’t stand wit. Some are so literal-minded that the slightest hint of irony affects them as water affects a sufferer from hydrophobia. Others come to different conclusions every time they stand up or sit down. Then there is the alcoholic school of critics, who sit in public houses, pronouncing ‘ex cathedra’ verdicts of condemnation, just as they think fit. They seize upon your publications, as a wrestler seizes upon his opponent’s hair, and use them to drag you down, while they themselves remain quite invulnerable because their barren pates are completely bald–so there’s nothing for you to get hold of.”
Sir Thomas More, Utopia (courtesy of Einar Sunde)
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
An ArtsJournal Blog