[Milton-L] 'Making Milton Matter'???? was Smokey Mountain...

[jfleming at sfu.ca]

In my opinion, a sense of having encountered something that matters is
inseparable from and foundational to an interest, whether provisional or
professional, in any text or set of texts, not just Milton's. The desire to
articulate that sense seems reasonable, even urgent. Articulating it as a
question, moreover -- why _does_ Milton (seem to) matter, anyway? -- seems,
if anything, maximally coherent. Finally, answers that approximate the logic
of (the otherwise great) Armstrong, when he defined jazz ("if you don't
know, I can't tell you") seem to me both theoretically and pedagogically
regrettable. Regards, JD Fleming

On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 07:54:18 -0500 milton-l at lists.richmond.edu wrote:
> Quoting Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu>:
> 
> > I don't understand this concern to "make" Milton matter -- in fact it
> > seems hardly coherent to me.
> 
> Our views on this issue probably depend on where we are standing and
> what we
> believe to be the mechanism of cultural continuity.  I stress that
> Milton is
> both really, really good and not outdated because I hope to have 2-3 more
> decades in academe.  I know that intellectual market shares can be
> diminished,
> and I want to keep teaching Milton and see upcoming students get jobs
> teaching
> him.
> 
> Life is always interrupting culture, but now there are even more cultural
> interruptions, if one counts all the various media enjoyed by the younger
> generations.	To assume that there will always be readers as a matter
> of course
> sounds problematic to me.  The ball may be kept rolling because some
> of us are
> pushing it.
> 
> Jameela
> -- 
> Jameela Lares, Ph.D.
> Professor of English
> The University of Southern Mississippi
> 118 College Drive, #5037
> Hattiesburg, MS  39406-0001
> 601 266-6214 ofc
> 601 266-5757 fax
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James Dougal Fleming
Associate Professor
Department of English
Simon Fraser University
778-782-4713
cell: 604-290-1637

Nicht deines, einer Welt.