Plato and art censorship (fwd)

[Katherine Lahti]

This query was forwarded to me from a colleague in classics. Always
interesting to learn what other fields want from ours...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 22:55:43 -0500 (EST)
From: Martha.Risser at Mail.Trincoll.Edu
To: katherine.lahti at Mail.Trincoll.Edu
Subject: Plato and art censorship (fwd)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 20:30:22 +0530
From: A. Basu <anupam at COMPORTS.COM>
Reply-To: History of the Ancient Mediterranean
    <ANCIEN-L at LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
To: ANCIEN-L at LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU
Subject: Plato and art censorship

Hello,
        I just read the Republic and was wondering if any one had found
similarities between what Plato says about art and the practice of
censorship in the USSR. It seems to me that the reasons he gives for
this(e.g. -The state needs brave soldiers - musical modes other than the
Dorian and Phrygian are not conducive to courage and self-control -
therefore we will not allow other modes) are very similar to the ideals that
formed the basis of such censorship in Russia.

Now, I am not very knowledgeable about the actual circumstances of Russia
but it seems to me that their censorship had a theoretical basis other than
than the mere Big Brother attitude that 'anything against the Party is bad'.
That is why not only subversive literature but also much apparently
apolitical art(the composers - Prokofiev and Shoshtakovich for example) also
faced censorship.

Could anyone point me to any such 'Marxist' discussion of Plato's
aesthetics. I somehow feel that overall the Communist states in Russia and
now in China are the closest we have come to a theoretically _'constructed'_
state such as the Republic advocates though I realize how far from any
Communist ideals Plato is.

Thanks for any help.
Anupam.
<anupam at presidency.com>