Barbarians

I am a debtor both to Greeks & barbarians, to the wise & the unwise..

St Paul to the Romans 1:14

When was the high point of civilization? Is it now, as some "progressives" might argue? It's true in 2022 in many technical fields we may be at the cutting edge, still. But my specialty is literature. I can assure you that in the humanities, progress has been mixed at best for some time. Take modernism, for example. Is Joyce (died 1941) really better than Tolstoy (died 1910)? Some Irish Professors at Trinity College may argue the case for Finnegan's Wake, but I would venture to suggest the general public made their mind up a while back: I suspect the number of movies & TV dramas based on Tolstoy's War & Peace, say, far outweighs those based on Wake, as do sales, probably. And even if you have a copy of Wake, did you actually finish it? Did you finish Pound's (died 1972) Cantos?

Obscurity is not bad in itself, but clearly to affect the zeitgeist one has to be read.

My VI Form English teacher, something of a feminist, made us read DH Lawrence (died 1930). Now in fairness Lawrence's cultural moment came 30 years after his death, in the 1960s, when his racier books were finally legal instead of banned for obscenity. By the 80s & 90s they were set texts for my generation. Is this progress? Well, depends who you ask. Even feminists have mixed feelings about Lawrence. Greater frankness about sex was hugely influencial, true, & it continues today in postmodern writers like Auster (not dead yet) but is it good? Or is it a sign of the barbarity of our times? Who are the barbarians now? The #Metoo activists who suggest many creative figures over the last few decades have been corrupt (they are coming for Picasso (died 1973) now) , or those who still seek greater creative freedom for writers & artists? The Japanese police famously regarded a vagina work by a female artist here as obscene only a year or two back. I can't support their censorship of the work in question entirely, but it is hard to feel they didn't have a point. Is that artist (not dead yet) ever going to produce anything approaching a Rembrandt? (died 1669) I think not.

The debate continues this year. The Saudis ban a cartoon for a gay kiss. Are they the barbarians? Or are the producers of the movie decadent? I suggest the latter. You may feel Hollywood is far in advance of Mecca but billions of Muslims across the world do not agree. As a Christian, I feel Hollywood has largely lost its way. But again, setting a exact point of decline is not easy. The most recent Best Picture Oscar winner I saw was No Country for Old Men (2007). I haven't even paid to see a more recent one, & I love cinema. I enjoyed Old Men, but is it a better movie than The Return of the King (2003)? Probably not.