Interesting post. Much to think about. A few quick responses: I don't think it's the future of art in that I think it's always been that way. At the height of the Renaissance, when learning had become a fad, and the richness of other cultures was pouring back in after a long death, what did people across Europe and its borders like? Festspiele and its kin in other tongues: little plays supposedly illustrative of Biblical scenes, but replete with tongue-wagging devils, nubile widows, cuckolds. pratfalls and farts, sexual innuendo with the subtlety of a hammer in the eye. That, for many, and not that unintellible Greek stuff, was real art--and they would travel many difficult miles to see one.
I think one of the problems is that many readers read to relax, so they want entertainment. They might like the illusion of depth or something new to learn, but that had better be short and tantalizing more than historically correct. The Da Vinci Code being a prime example: I heard person after person rave about the book and then end with how informative it is, and I have to bite my tongue not to point out the howlers--both in prose and in historical context.
Students will (perhaps with an attitude more stoic than enthusiastic) approach a difficult text because that's the context of school. And a passionate or skilled teacher can gradually win their interest and then their enthusiasm. (I will never forget my sixth grade teacher who took the time to play bits of Zauberfloete for a couple of months previous to the L.A. Shrine Auditorium doing their single day "cultural effort" for the local schools. Most of that packed theater was full of noisy kids who were glad to get out of school but otherwise bored, but here and there were classes like ours, just ordinary blue collar kids, but we knew the story, we knew everyone's theme music, we knew the jokes, and we all listened with attuned ears to see if the Queen of the Night actually hit that high C or not, and were thrilled when she did--clapping hard, and gaining puzzled and affronted glances from the kids around us who were wondering what the fuss was about.)
Anyway, I think it's more difficult to get adults who regard themselves 'past school' and who regard reading as a leisure activity, to tackle a challenging text. I have seen it done, but when people on-line do it, they begin with a "I want to do a group reading of Finnegans Wake. Who's on?"
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I think one of the problems is that many readers read to relax, so they want entertainment. They might like the illusion of depth or something new to learn, but that had better be short and tantalizing more than historically correct. The Da Vinci Code being a prime example: I heard person after person rave about the book and then end with how informative it is, and I have to bite my tongue not to point out the howlers--both in prose and in historical context.
Students will (perhaps with an attitude more stoic than enthusiastic) approach a difficult text because that's the context of school. And a passionate or skilled teacher can gradually win their interest and then their enthusiasm. (I will never forget my sixth grade teacher who took the time to play bits of Zauberfloete for a couple of months previous to the L.A. Shrine Auditorium doing their single day "cultural effort" for the local schools. Most of that packed theater was full of noisy kids who were glad to get out of school but otherwise bored, but here and there were classes like ours, just ordinary blue collar kids, but we knew the story, we knew everyone's theme music, we knew the jokes, and we all listened with attuned ears to see if the Queen of the Night actually hit that high C or not, and were thrilled when she did--clapping hard, and gaining puzzled and affronted glances from the kids around us who were wondering what the fuss was about.)
Anyway, I think it's more difficult to get adults who regard themselves 'past school' and who regard reading as a leisure activity, to tackle a challenging text. I have seen it done, but when people on-line do it, they begin with a "I want to do a group reading of Finnegans Wake. Who's on?"