From: crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian
Subject: TANGENT (sort of): Re: What is art?
Date: 19 Nov 92 20:25:19 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1992Nov19.150117.21507@cbnews.cb.att.com> ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman) writes:

>That's not meant as a slam on his obvious literary gifts.  Tolstoy
>was a great novelist, but he was great in the same way that all
>great novelists are great - because he wielded language superbly.

Most of the time, I agree with this.  But occasionally someone like
Dostoevsky comes along ... I've read all his stuff, in various
translations, and I think he's a very mediocre stylist.  But his books are
nonethless great.  I don't read his prose and think -- wow!  What a way
with words!  It's more what he's saying than the words he's using.  His
characters are just amazing.  I feel the same way about Victor Hugo.

>The story of Abraham is essentially the same story as Homer's "Odyssey" 
>is essentially the same story as Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" is 
>essentially the same story as Twain's "Huck Finn" is essentially the same 
>story as Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" will be essentially the same story 
>as Lauren's new novel :-).  

Oh wonderful, lump me in there with Chaucer, Conrad, Twain and GOD.  If I
wasn't intimidated about writing before, I SURE am now.

Obviously there are significant differences 
>in setting, development of characters, use of language, and so on, but 
>they all involve journeys from safe, comfortable worlds into unknown 
>territories, and they all deal with how those journeys reveal the central
>characters' true natures.  

Well, in a sense all good fiction does that.  I think you downplay plot a
bit too much, though I would agree is isn't the be-all.  

>I disagree.  Reading Cliff Notes (the outline form of the play) or watching 
>"Valley Girl" (which simply updates the R&J plot) can't even *begin* to 
>convey the sadness and pathos of Shakespeare's story.  The sadness and 
>pathos are communicated through the language that Shakespeare used. 

And, I think, the intricacy of thought involved.  Shakespeare plumbed 
greater depths of meaning, which I think exemplifies good art.  It's
important to be able to wield the tools fo the trade well, be it the pen
or the piano, but great art goes beyond excellent style or proficiency.

>How do these ideas translate over into Christian mu ... er, I mean
>music made by Christians?  Well, once again, I'd say that the plot
>is largely overrated.  We all know the basic plot.  We can read it 
>in the Bible.  I hope nobody reads that as a criticism of the Bible.

I'll bet you do!  Someone will, though, regardless.

>Obviously it's the plot that tells us truly who God is, and who we
>are, and how to bridge the gap between the two.  But we already
>*know* the plot.  And music that simply parrots what the Scriptures
>have to say, or that merely paraphrases what the Scriptures have
>to say, is boring, boring, boring.  

We disagree big time here.  I absolutely love a great deal of music that
does nothing but parrot the Scriptures, in particular a lot of the songs
used by the Scots with their psalter and Gregorian chants, not to mention
Handel's Messiah and Mozart's Ave Verum (my favorite Easter song).  I also
like quite a few paraphrased Scripture songs.  The best of them remind me
of truths at times when I really need them, and by doing so through music,
they seem to carry a greater power than if I had simply heard or read the
Scriptures they're based on.

>It seems to me that the task of Christian musicians is to start with
>the basic truth of the Scriptures and work it out in every aspect of
>their lives.  

As you say, that's the task we all share.  Sometimes, I think, that
expresses itself in the way you point out in this post.  Other times,
though, singing Scripture is one of the most powerful and uplifting things
musicians can do.  I remember the first time I heard "Do you not know,
have you not heard, the Lord is an everlasting God?" sung; it impacted me
in ways it hadn't before.  Not to mention hearing a chorus of voices
singing Handel's melody with "King of kings and Lord of lords."

>On second thought, skip the bratwurst.  Go with low-fat turkey franks
>instead.

Much harder to rhyme, though.



-- 
The trick of reason is to get the imagination to seize the actual world --
if only from time to time.     -- Annie Dillard, "An American Childhood"
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Lauren Crawford  //  crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu