I pretty much agree with what you're saying here - writers have different goals and if literary excellence isn't one of those goals, then there's no point in judging them for failing to achieve it. Which isn't to say that the members of the Serious Club shouldn't spend a lot of time thinking about what, in their view, does constitute literary excellence and how it can be achieved.
I do have one slight niggle, and I apologise for being such a pedant about it - Kipling's tribal lays aren't laws, they're songs and ballads, so the quotation perfectly fits what you're trying to say (much better than the "laws" translation does).
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-28 08:35 am (UTC)I pretty much agree with what you're saying here - writers have different goals and if literary excellence isn't one of those goals, then there's no point in judging them for failing to achieve it. Which isn't to say that the members of the Serious Club shouldn't spend a lot of time thinking about what, in their view, does constitute literary excellence and how it can be achieved.
I do have one slight niggle, and I apologise for being such a pedant about it - Kipling's tribal lays aren't laws, they're songs and ballads, so the quotation perfectly fits what you're trying to say (much better than the "laws" translation does).