{"id":45,"date":"2011-10-10T17:30:45","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T16:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.danphilibin.com\/wordpress\/?p=63"},"modified":"2014-05-01T15:07:52","modified_gmt":"2014-05-01T14:07:52","slug":"lo-que-los-intelectuales-leen-a-escondidas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/utiles-para\/utiles-para-creadores\/lo-que-los-intelectuales-leen-a-escondidas","title":{"rendered":"WHAT HIGHLY EDUCATED PEOPLE READ&#8230;, when nobody watches"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>13 Minute, 30 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><p><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><!--\nP { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 10); }P.western { font-family: \"Liberation Serif\",serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: \"DejaVu Sans\"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: \"Lohit Hindi\"; font-size: 12pt; }A:link {  }\n--><\/style>\n<p align=\"CENTER\"><strong>Pygmalion and Galatea\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A professor gave his graduate students a poem written by a prestigious contemporary writer. A few minutes later he asked them what their favourite lines were, but nobody dared to answer: The poem, in spite of the author&#8217;s reputation, was simply terrible. And although we have been trained to consider &#8220;beautiful&#8221; that which possesses great technical skill (even when the message, what is being said, is clearly horrible), the poem in question was not even technically noteworthy. That said, there is a kind of tacit agreement amongst members of the literary world that they should show their high regard and appreciation for works that the rest of them have praised, regardless of their true quality; and thus why many of us have occasionally been forced to praise \u201chighbrow\u201d works we believed to be of rather questionable quality.<\/p>\n<p>The current situation, however, exceeds and defies what may be considered reasonable. People in the literary world, divided like the god Janus, do not read the same material in public (\u201cofficially\u201d), as they do in private, behind closed doors. In this article we attempt to enumerate everybody&#8217;s favourite works \u2013those we read for pleasure, not those we are forced to read\u2013.<\/p>\n<p>A \u201chistorical\u201d consultant working on a famous telenovela, attended a department function for professors. While speaking with him about these kinds of works, I recalled \u201c<em>Coraz\u00f3n salvaje\u201d <\/em><em>(Wild Heart)<\/em>, and its three first Mexican versions (one from 1963, one from 1974, and one from 1993). At the time I said \u2013mistakenly\u2013 that the role of \u201cJuan del Diablo\u201d (John Devil), had been played by Julio Alem\u00e1n and Enrique <em>\u00c1lvarez F\u00e9lix<\/em>. Another reknowned historian nearby, interjected saying: \u201cOf course not!; it was Enrique <em>Lizalde<\/em>\u201d \u2013and three other well regarded academics nearby chimed in their agreement\u2013.<\/p>\n<p>During the same function, several attendees mused aloud about what might become of the highly valued and coveted library \u2013over 600,000 volumes\u2013 that had belonged to Dr. Francisco Monterde (r.i.p.). As well as the fact that Dr. Monterde had built a storage space in his bathroom where he kept his collections of \u201c<em>Ja-j\u00e1\u201d <\/em><em>(Ha-Ha!)<\/em> and \u201c<em>Selecciones del Reader\u2019s Digest\u201d (Reader&#8217;s Digest)<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Two months prior to this meeting, a foreign, socialist intellectual gave me approximately 200 \u201c<em>jazmines\u201d <\/em><em>(copies of Harlequin romance novels in Spanish)<\/em> which no longer fit in her house \u2013of course, she did not give me her entire collection, and kept her favourites (over 500) in a locked wardrobe\u2013.<\/p>\n<p>Many professors at our department, have considerable collections of detective novels. One administrative director knows everything there is to know about \u201c<em>L\u00e1grimas y risas\u201d<\/em> (Tears and Laughter) \u2013and is, in fact, the most authoritative source for anybody wishing to recall any of the stories no longer available\u2013. Another well-known specialist does not miss a single issue of \u201c<em>TvyNovelas\u201d <\/em><em>(TV and Telenovelas, a Mexican-soap opera &#8220;TV guide&#8221;)<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>One gentleman -a recipient of several honorary doctorates- who was also previously a chairman at a UN research center, acknowledged the enormous impact Salgari&#8217;s works had on his life (SAL-gari in Italian); and a highly productive British literary researcher, and current department head at a British university, is one of the foremost experts on \u201c<em>music-hall\u201d<\/em> \u2013which would correspond to the Mexican \u201ccarpa\u201d (cheap massive shows that took place under a tent)\u2013.<\/p>\n<p>An Chilean opinion-magazine director who lectures at our department, admitted to his students that, if a cultural television program and a soccer match were being broadcast at the same time, he would definitely prefer to watch \u2026 the soccer match. Old Mexican films, \u201c<em>\u00a1Hola!\u201d <\/em><em>(&#8216;Hello&#8217; magazine)<\/em>, the \u201cMem\u00edn Pingu\u00edn\u201d (Mischievous Little Billy) stories, the comics of \u201c\u00c1sterix\u201d (Asterix) and \u201cMafalda\u201d, cowboy stories, science fiction stories, spy novels \u2013especially the James Bond series\u2013, and adventure stories along the lines of Jules Verne, comprise the bulk of the secret reading (to my knowledge) in the Republic of the Art World.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, global statistics have shown that the majority of \u201c<em>Star Trek\u201d <\/em><em>fans have university studies, and fall somewhere in the middle to high socioeconomic groups <\/em> (cfr. \u201cTrekking onward\u201d; <em>Time<\/em>, November 28, 1994); and Harlequin Enterprises \u2013publishers of \u201c<em>jazmines\u201d <\/em><em>(romance novels)<\/em> in the United States\u2013 had similar findings regarding their average readers (cfr. appendix; \u201c<em>The Romance of real life, or Virtue still rewarded\u201d<\/em>; thesis by Nattie Golubov, also a professor at our department). This scuttles the theory that \u201cpopular\u201d literature is read only by \u201cignorant\u201d people or those having limited economic resources.<\/p>\n<p>It is appropriate now to ask ourselves why.<\/p>\n<p>Esteemed literature over the last 100-150 years has emphasized the assessment of \u201cform\u201d (of technique, of \u201chow\u201d the work is \u201ctold\u201d) over the assessment of \u201ccontent\u201d (\u201cwhat\u201d the work is \u201ctelling\u201d us). In addition, exceptional favourable treatment has been given to works in which, the new and different, the transgressive, and extreme innovations are praised, rather than the quest for beauty \u2013as though nothing in everyday life could be beautiful\u2013. Therefore, those of us who earn our livings in the literary world, have been forced to consume inhuman quantities of sordid, bitter, perverse, confusing, twisted works, or \u2013more generally\u2013 simply terrible ones.<\/p>\n<p>The consequences are obvious: If every one of the \u201chighbrow\u201d story tellers in our country, purchased just one copy from the rest, the print runs of their works would be completely exhausted; \u2026and yet this is not the case (cfr. \u201cPol\u00e9mica\u201d; <em>La Experiencia Literaria <\/em><em>(Controversy; The Literary Experience)<\/em><em>,<\/em> Department of Literature journal; winter 1993-1994)! In other words, they do not even read each others&#8217; work. And do not believe this is because people do not read or do not know how to read \u2013the poor writer&#8217;s glib excuse\u2013, since surveys reveal the opposite (cfr. \u201cDo You Read Regularly?\u201d, \u201c<em>El Heraldo de M\u00e9xico\u201d <\/em><em>(The Mexican Herald)<\/em>, September 30, 1991). An author who has chosen to laud and elevate the unpleasant in his works, cannot then complain that people are ignoring him. As I stated in a previous article [\u201cLibertad de expresi\u00f3n y libertad de recepci\u00f3n\u201d (Free Speech and Freedom of Reception), \u201c<em>Huma\u00adnidades\u201d <\/em><em>(Humanities)<\/em> # 91], writers have the right to say what they like, but we cannot force others to listen to us.<\/p>\n<p>The original \u201cPygmalion\u201d \u2013in Greek mythology\u2013 was king of Cyprus, and a highly skilled sculptor. Pygmalion sculpted a woman in marble so perfectly, that one night he shut himself in a room with it hoping to bring it to life. In one version of the myth, Aphrodite discovered this, and was outraged by sculptor&#8217;s arrogance and stupidity. Then, to punish him, she brought the statue to life, and called her Galatea. Having to live with her, Pygmalion was forced to accept the truth, and confront the reality that the \u201cwoman\u201d he loved for her physical beauty, had nothing more \u2013nothing human\u2013 to offer him. His life had become a living hell&#8230; So much so, that Aphrodite ultimately took pity on him, and transformed Galatea back into a statue.<\/p>\n<p>This is what is happening with the intellectuals. A great deal of recent \u201chighbrow\u201d literature is cold, brutal and inhuman; it is impossible to devote oneself exclusively to it because life would become hellish&#8230; And I am not the one saying this, the intellectuals&#8217; secret readings tell us this is so.<\/p>\n<p align=\"RIGHT\">Illustration source: DreamsTime.com (\u00a9 Caraman)<\/p>\n<p><strong>ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(BIBLIOGRAPHIES\/NEWSPAPERS\/SOURCE VIDEOS):<\/p>\n<p>Blanca de Lizaur; \u201dLo que los intelectuales leen a escondidas\u201d (What Highly Educated People Read in Secret) , \u201c<em>Humanidades\u201d <\/em><em>Humanities)<\/em> at the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) # 107, pp. 24 (back cover) and 19 [1995].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Currently available at<\/strong> (repository): http:\/\/www.mejoresmedios.org<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>This article resulted in some controversy on the subject, first receiving the attention of Dr. Jaime Litvak King, r.i.p., in the # 108 edition of the same academic journal; then that of Dr. Paul Schmidt Schoenberg, in the # 109 edition; and lastly that of Dr. Santiago Genov\u00e9s, r.i.p.,, in the # 120 edition.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A brief examination of what highly educated people really read when nobody is watching them, allows  us to conclude that it is humanly impossible to refrain from reading popular works \u2013to maintain a \u201cpurely highbrow diet\u201d comprised of only elite works.<br \/>\nWe put forth the following explanation: Works applauded and esteemed by the elite arts in the last 100 years or so, envision a sordid, bitter, and hopeless world \u2013thus frequently becoming toxic or harmful for their readers\u2019 emotional and general health, as we shall analyse in other articles. A \u201cpurely-depressive works\u201d diet would certainly kill its reader.<br \/>\nNo wonder most people, and even highly educated ones, tend to prefer popular works, even if they lack the prestige of the \u201chigh arts\u201d. What a pity it is, though, that even popular works have been contaminated by the biases that have progressively killed the \u201chigh\u201d arts, thus diminishing the spontaneous and joyful pleasure we hope and expect to obtain from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,692,16],"tags":[69,68,64,65,78,29,87,72,99,100,101,102,103,53,98,66,104,733],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-utiles-para-creadores","category-utiles-para","category-revista","tag-agendas-politicas-economicas-e-ideologicas","tag-anonimidad","tag-aprendizaje-y-desarrollo-de-habilidades-de-lecto-escritura","tag-caida-de-ventas","tag-comportamiento-del-publico-de-los-medios","tag-consumo-de-medios","tag-control-de-contenidos","tag-demanda-de-medios","tag-diferencias-entre-los-distintos-tipos-de-literatura","tag-literatura-culta","tag-literatura-marginada","tag-literatura-popular","tag-literatura-tradicional","tag-los-medios-y-la-literatura-popular","tag-mala-situacion-financiera-de-los-medios","tag-mala-situacion-financiera-de-los-medios-morbo","tag-oposicion-a-los-valores-ideas-y-creencias-mayoritarios","tag-revista"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":64,"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2876,"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/2876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediosmejoresqueganenmas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}