Re: Closing of the American Mind
"Zachary Steiner" <zsteiner@butler.edu> wrote:
A friend of mine (a guitarist who has forsaken rock for classical in the past year) has been telling me quite a bit about a book by Allan Bloom called The Closing of the American Mind, specifically the section pertaining to music. In this section he is very critical of rock music and pretty much any music that doesn't fit under the broad classical nomenclature, at least this is the impression that I get from my friend and some of the quotes he's used. I wanted some z-listers' opinions on this book and its views. I have not had the time to pick the book up, so I'm going on what my friend has told me. Is this book as hard lined as my friend is making it out to be, that Bloom has no tolerance for (or worse believes in the inherit evilness of) any non-classical music, especially rock? If so that's a very frustrating view to me as I know of a great many non-classical works that have enriched my life in a way many classical pieces have failed. Mozart is nice, but I can only listen for so long (the Requiem is another story, though).
I have a lot of problems with Bloom's view of what counts as useful cultural artifacts, which goes far beyond a criticism of rock versus classical music. He's got a complex analysis with roots deep in classical philosophy about how people in the US don't think through the implications of their core beliefs & tastes. Oversimplifying his argument, he thinks that the general culture seen in the US doesn't exemplify the founding ideas & ideals behind the country as the culmination, so far, of Western civilization. Despite my disagreements with many of his ideas and much of his taste, I've got to point out that boiling his complex argument down to "does he really think rock sucks?", coupled with a statement like
I have not had the time to pick the book up, so I'm going on what my friend has told me.
is symptomatic of what he considered to be an overly shallow approach to culture on the part of many people living under the influence of the US. -- Herb Levy Mappings: new music in RealAudio P O Box 9369 Forth Wort, TX 76147 USA http://antennaradio.com/mappings/show.htm mappings@antennaradio.com
I would say it´s an interesting book for anybody to read interested in debates about what "culture" is or isn´t, or about what should be taught in our universities as "essential" (the so-called "core curriculum"), etc. Bloom is very eloquent and very provokative. Provokative reading is a good thing, no? :-) Then, there is a novel by Saul Bellow, _Ravelstein_, which is basically his story of his friendship with this difficult and contradictory fellow (who died several years ago). Regards, Stephen -- Stephen Fruitman Dept of Historical Studies Umea University SE-901 87 Umea Sweden
Stephen Fruitman <Stephen.fruitman@idehist.umu.se> wrote:
Bloom is very eloquent and very provokative. Provokative reading is a good thing, no? :-)
Bloom is just offensive. Alasdiar MacIntyre is provocative, and he is really interesting. Marcin
The problem is, however, that he does not say anything more interesting about music then 'rock sucks, mozart is OK' (maybe besides his reducing music to a kind of educational tool, which i find deeply mistaken), and it makes the discussion with him pretty useless. And as a person who has spent much of time on listening and creating music at times close to rock, I feel very offended by such treatment of this kind of music. Marcin ----- Original Message ----- From: Herb Levy <herb@eskimo.com>
Despite my disagreements with many of his ideas and much of his taste, I've got to point out that boiling his complex argument down to "does he really think rock sucks?", coupled with a statement like
I have not had the time to pick the book up, so I'm going on what my friend has told me.
is symptomatic of what he considered to be an overly shallow approach to culture on the part of many people living under the influence of the US.
participants (3)
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Herb Levy -
Marcin Gokieli -
Stephen Fruitman