Re: Sam, Will and John on "meaning"

[IEDSRI@aol.com]

<<The whole point of literature/art has really passed you by, hasn't it ?

-- Will. >>

IED just couldn't let this remark go by without complaining.  What possible
good can such a response serve?  It's openly insulting and patronizing, yet
it's also utterly devoid of content or argument.  Sam's comments seemed to
this reader powerfully reasoned, fair-minded and civil; they certainly didn't
merit the above bit of fatuous nastiness.

 > It's music; he enjoys it; that's all that matters.   For you, me or anyone
else to
 > tell him his interpretation, whatever it may be, is incorrect or invalid
-- 
 > would pretty much redefine pedantry.

This, too, is unfair.  As this reader understood it, Sam's argument allowed
quite happily for the freedom of anyone to "interpret" Kate's lyrics as they
chose.  He simply pointed out that a personal response, however valid or
useful to the listener, is not the same as an informed understanding of
intended meaning.

It isn't pedantry to recognize the existence of an authoritative source for
meaning -- namely, the creator of the message (in this case Kate Bush).  Your
seven-year-old son is to be applauded for loving Cloudbusting.  But it would
be foolish to look to your son for information about the meaning of the
song's lyrics.

> At night, music helps me unwind, and my interpretation and "analysis"
becomes
> entirely subjective.

Fine!  That's wonderful!  But that doesn't make your interpretation and
analysis *right*!  It was clear from Sam's post that your response would be
fine with him too.  But simply because your interpretation and analysis of
music is subjective doesn't mean that more objective interpretations and
analyses should be dismissed as pedantry.  It just means you choose to listen
one way and Sam another.  Whether you will enjoy or respond to the music more
or less fully than he is beyond anyone's power to discover.  But it's clear
that Sam's way is far likelier to lead to a truer understanding of the
intended meaning of the lyrics.
  
-- Andrew Marvick (IED)
     S              R             I