Look! My two favourite instruments! I love Finzi. The Five Bagatelles has a kind of folksy feel to it, which is fun and very different from other pieces I've played. My favourite of the bagatelles is "Romance."
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I have just finished reading Chinua Achebe's essay on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The essay is entitled "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." I'm a bit troubled by Achebe's argument, or, mainly, his assertion that Conrad's novella should not considered a work of art because of the "obvious racism." Conrad's writing reflects the British imperialist values of the society from which he comes. Why should we assume that Conrad would have the values of our society if he doesn't come from our society? While I understand Achebe's argument and I agree that HoD is racist in its description of Africa and its people, I think that it is foolish to claim the text should not be considered "a great work of art."
Conrad's power and significance as a writer cannot be ignored.
Do we dismiss all pre-civil rights movement texts as not worth reading because they contain racism? Are these works less valuable because of that? I would argue that Conrad's novella is indeed a work of art, as evidenced by the fact that it is still studied today in many different contexts and by many different scholars. It is interesting to study precisely because it paints such a negative portrait of Africa. We can learn so much from this text about how narrow-minded and opinionated the white European world was (and arguably still is).
This also raises the question "What makes a great work of art?" Does art need to be flawless in order for it to be considered "great"? And what constitutes "great" anyway? It seems to me that Achebe is suggesting that art must be free from bias. This is literally impossible. Human beings are a product of their environment. Consequently, any art that a human creates will be influenced by his/her individual experience and resulting biases.
Do we dismiss all pre-civil rights movement texts as not worth reading because they contain racism? Are these works less valuable because of that? I would argue that Conrad's novella is indeed a work of art, as evidenced by the fact that it is still studied today in many different contexts and by many different scholars. It is interesting to study precisely because it paints such a negative portrait of Africa. We can learn so much from this text about how narrow-minded and opinionated the white European world was (and arguably still is).
