distressing news

[Francoise Rosset]

> 
> But I must say that this discussion of "Master and Margarita -  The 
>Musical"
> dripped with such contempt  for and sarcasm towards "ordinary" 
>people and
> their tastes that it's no wonder many on the American right attack 
>the
> academic world as irrelevant - or worse - every chance they get. 

If we were supposed to go on to another topic, why bring this
up again?

Please spare me the notion that the American R/right actually
hears, reads or listens to anything academics have ever said.
They are not reacting to our supposed drippy sarcasm or our
alleged sense of superiority. They have spend numerous decades
recycling this pseudo-populist but very effective formula: those
nasty intellectuals are out of touch with the common folk and
think they're better than you, -- and frankly I don't need to hear
this anymore in any form from ANYone.

So I'm not particularly impressed with the sanctimony over
our sarcasm, which was mostly rarefied and snooty good fun.

I have no problem with the large swatch of supposedly "ordinary"
people who go to every Andrew Lloyd Webber spectacle and love
every moment of it, having shelled out very un-ordinary prices for
those tickets. However, (1) I still reserve the right to think that 
he's
become a musical hack; (2) I just love watching telenovelas, esp.
those from Mexico and Venezuela, yet I wouldn't call them great
art either; (3) there are and have been spectacles and plays both
truly popular and darn good, such as "Sweeney Todd" and "Lion King"
and "I Am My Own Wife" (opinions!!, remember); (4) Sir Andrew can
do whatever he pleases with whatever material and we're all allowed
to like it -- or not, and to use this list to vent when he goes after
"our" literature.

Back to the Yankees-Red Sox game ...
-FR

Francoise Rosset
Russian and Russian Studies
Coordinator, German and Russian
Wheaton College
Norton, Massachusetts 02766
Office: (508) 285-3696
FAX:   (508) 286-3640

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