{"id":1269,"date":"2014-05-02T16:30:49","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T23:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2014-05-02T16:30:49","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T23:30:49","slug":"but-i-know-what-i-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/05\/but-i-know-what-i-like\/","title":{"rendered":"But I know what I like"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IV<\/a>At Guardian Books<\/em>, Will Self, for a forthcoming lecture, writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I believe the\u00a0serious novel will continue to be written and read, but it will be an art form on a par with easel painting or classical music: confined to a defined social and demographic group, requiring a degree of subsidy, a subject for historical scholarship rather than public discourse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He fails to convince me, but mine might be a minority view. However, I will pick up on one point. He writes:<\/p>\n

This is not to say that everyone walked the streets [in the twentieth century] with their head buried in\u00a0Ulysses<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0To the Lighthouse<\/em>, or that popular culture in all its forms didn’t hold sway over the psyches and\u00a0imaginations of the great majority. Nor\u00a0do I mean to suggest that in our culture perennial John Bull-headed philistinism wasn’t alive and snorting: “I don’t know much about art, but I\u00a0know what I like.” However, what didn’t obtain is the current dispensation, wherein those who reject the high arts feel not merely entitled to their opinion, but wholly justified in it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have met a few people in my life who have said something very much like “I don’t know much about art, but I\u00a0know what I like.” And none of them ever snorted. It was always said with humility, and with a sense of admiration for people who do<\/em> know much about art. Arts administrators: are these not the very people you would like to meet? They like<\/em> something, have had a response<\/em> to something, although they know little of the context. Show interesting art, and those who know much about art will come to you. Those who don’t like anything, you will never reach. But those finding their way – and in many genres, I could count myself among them – in music, theatre, dance, visual art, film, poetry and prose? Talk to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Guardian Books, Will Self, for a forthcoming lecture, writes: I believe the\u00a0serious novel will continue to be written and read, but it will be an art form on a par with easel painting or classical music: confined to a defined social and demographic group, requiring a degree of subsidy, a subject for historical scholarship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/self-quantity-theory.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-kt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":995,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/08\/more-whatever\/","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":0},"title":"More whatever","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"August 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks for the comments on my recent post, Whatever, on pay-what-you-will pricing. Joanna writes: There was the instance in 2007 when the band Radiohead sold their album, In Rainbows, on a pay-what-you-can basis. My understanding is that even this extremely popular band that doesn\u2019t have to do much to get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"we get letters","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/postbox-224x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2327,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2018\/03\/is-there-an-ethical-case-against-deaccessioning-by-museums\/","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":1},"title":"Is there an ethical case against deaccessioning by museums? Updated","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to a post by artsjournal.com blog neighbor Lee Rosenbaum on proposed sales of works by the Berkshire Museum and the Lasalle University Art Museum, I asked via Twitter whether there was a coherent case to be made that deaccessioning is unethical, and not simply (sometimes) a case of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1458,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/08\/amazon-and-orwell-and-penguins\/","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":2},"title":"Amazon and Orwell and Penguins (Updated)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"August 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"By now most everyone who follows artsjournal.com and the Amazon dispute has heard of its strange use of George Orwell in its (shockingly mishandled) dispute with the publishing sector. The New York Times reports: The freshest part of Amazon\u2019s call to arms was the history lesson. It recounted how the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"weapons of mass destruction?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1807,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2015\/01\/who-bears-the-burden-of-auction-house-fees-buyers-or-sellers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":3},"title":"Who bears the burden of auction house fees, buyers or sellers?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"January 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Blog neighbour Lee Rosenbaum writes today about increases in premiums Sotheby's auction house, speculating that Christie's will soon follow suit. She writes: Here are Sotheby\u2019s new charges (with old ones in parentheses), effective Feb. 1: Buyers will be charged 25% of first $200,000 (previously $100,000) of the hammer price; 20%\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"beast of burden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/auction.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/auction.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/auction.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1074,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/droit-de-suite\/","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":4},"title":"Droit de suite","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Legislation is proposed to bring droit de suite - a rule in which some artists receive a share of proceeds from some resales of their art - to the United States. The New York Times reports here, and blog neighbour Lee Rosenbaum analyses the proposal here. I will just deal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"beast of burden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/auction.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/auction.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/auction.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3648,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/12\/music-and-wellness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":5},"title":"Music and Wellness","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"December 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Daniel Levitin has a\u00a0short article in Wired\u00a0on the future of music, therapy and well-being. I do not like it. Preliminary:\u00a0Levitin\u00a0is James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience at McGill University, and the author of many books - I came to know him long ago for his\u00a0This is Your Brain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}