LitCrit and context

[Eric]

While skimming the newspapers, I found, in the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita, an article where the "brytyjski publicista" Timothy Garden-Gnome is calling for a new Churchill for Europe. Maybe he fancies himself as the new incumbent? The article was, of course, taken from Timothy's usual place of publication, The Guardian. But the Poles love it, no doubt. Out with the haiku-writing Flemings, in with the garden gnomes...

But a more serious article was in Die Welt where Marcel Reich-Ranicki, a not unknown poylisher yid now living in Germany says:

Bevor man einen Text kritisiert, selbst wenn es nur eine kleine Rezension ist, muss man sich die historische Situation vor Augen stellen, in der er entstanden ist. Bevor ich in Warschau ins Getto kam, las ich viel und war in hohem Ma?e an Konzerten und Oper interessiert. Als meine Familie und ich dann ins Getto umziehen mussten, wollte ich von Literatur zun?chst nichts mehr wissen. Die Musik spendete Momente des Vergessens und damit des Trosts. Das gelingt der Literatur nicht in der gleichen Intensit?t. Weshalb sollte ich beginnen, einen dicken Roman zu lesen, wenn ich mir nicht sicher sein konnte, ihn zu Ende lesen zu k?nnen, weil mich deutsche Soldaten vielleicht morgen schon oder in den n?chsten Stunden ermorden w?rden?

True. Not only is literature itself more satisfying in context, but the act of reviewing and writing literary criticism too. The opiniated Reich-Ranicki is now a TV star, and even at 90 has not yet been beaten by age. You can understand his rather dominant behaviour on TV in the context of the pretty horrible things he must have experienced in the Warsaw Ghetto as a young man.

[peter_d]

Very true. But at the same time, there is also literature that can be enjoyed and understood and interpreted outside of the context in which it was written. Many stories have universal validity, because despite all the differences in culture, background and time, people are in the end people and all experience similar emotions.

What I find also interesting about the quote is that he says that he preferred music over literature. The way he phrases it could be interpreted as music gives quicker satisfaction, that?s why it gives more comfort when you?re not certain how long you are going to live. Interesting...