nemesis wrote:
> Shay <Sha### [at] cccc> wrote:
>> I imagine this book is very popular with the sexually obsessed -
>> those who view adolescence as the greatest time in life because
>> adolescence is the most sexually focused... I believe this is the
>> type who choose "The Classics."

> I don't know what sexuality has to do with "the classics", nor
> with this book. Sex is everywhere, from fine art classics to pure
> consumerist trash.  The closer this book has to sex is a
> frustrated attempt to get busy with a hooker.

Sexual frustration is as "sexually focused" as intercourse. I have no
problem with sexuality or profanity, but I do believe that works
containing these elements are graded on a curve by a heavy percentage of
academics. I can imagine some Bernard Berkman[1] type being very pleased
with himself for assigning such a controversial work to his students.

> It is the character's cynical view of the world that provides it
> a classic status, together with the fact that it's well
> representative of USA's 1950s...  And I'm sure you're joking that
> an obscure rock band's album is a classic in the  same sense as
> 19th century poetry, music or Renaissence paintings...

Not the same as poetry or painting, but not so much different from a
classic mid-century novel as you might think. Go up to a group of kids,
sing "It must have something to do with luck, 'cause I wait my whole
life for just one..." and you are very likely to hear in response
"Daaaaay after Daaaaay." It's survived for a quarter century, never
having been played on the radio, partly because of the "character's
cynical view of the world" and "the fact that it's well representative
of USA's" *1980s*, but mostly because these kids parents were titillated
by the word "fu**" before that word became such a common thing in music.

-Shay

[1] The Squid and the Whale: Based on the true childhood experiences of
Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the
touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents divorce in
Brooklyn in the 1980's. ~IMDB

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