I am afraid I do not agree with Carroll that all types of literary
criticism are in effect reductionist.  This is to define the word
"reductionism" in such a way as to render it meaningless.  In the
same way, the word "political" is rendered meaningless by those
naifs who subscribe to the doctrine that "everything is political."

==Dan

At 06:42 PM 7/23/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Daniel Pearlman wrote:
>
>>
>> As to reading the Cantos like a sort of dream, the whole issue of
>> reductionist readings of literature--whether in the light of
>> psychoanalysis, or Marxism, or feminism--is a disturbing one.
>> Reductionist criticism, in general, has attempted to employ
>> literature as an instrumentality for the advancement of so-
>> called critics' personal ax-grinding missions.
>
>This of course is a serious (and, more importantly, I think false)
reduction of
>human motivation -- and a sort of odd binary of motives as "personal
ax-grinding"
>and [whatever in hell would be the opposite].
>
>But reductions are illegitimate, or even misleading, when they contain an
>explicit or implicit "nothing but." All explanations, by virtue of being
usable
>explanations, are reductions of whatever is being explained. And when
examining
>two contrasting reductions the question is not which is better or even
which is
>truer -- both may well be true. The question is how illuminating they are.
>
>One could reduce the Cantos to an illustration of the history of
typography or
>even bookbinding in the 20th century. I doubt that that reduction would be
very
>interesting one -- but then I consider that my two complete cantos, the ninth
>printing (1983) and the 14th printing (1998). Some new material has been
added
>and the order of the final pages changed slightlly. But the biggest
difference is
>not in content but in the thickness and texture of the pages. Hence the later
>volume, while 20 pages longer is much thinner and lies open more easily. A
quite
>different experience. And my copy of *Rock-Drill* (printed in Italy) has a
red
>heart and a red diamond at the end of Canto 88. Much more impressive than the
>shades of gray in later printings. So I guess even this reduction of the
Cantos,
>ignoring content, language, everything, would have real interest.
>
>Any commentary, any critical interpretation is a reduction, each with its own
>degree of interest and triviality. It is really dully tautological to
complain of
>reductionism as such.
>
>Some reductions are obviously much more interesting than others. Most
reductions,
>however, are apt to bring out something in a work that would be less easily
>perceived otherwise.
>
>Carrol
>
HOME:
Dan Pearlman
102 Blackstone Blvd. #5
Providence, RI 02906
Tel.: 401 453-3027
email: [log in to unmask]
Fax: (253) 681-8518
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/

OFFICE
Department of English
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881
Tel.: 401 874-4659