April 5, 2011

The Muzzled Muse



Every year the good folks at the Grub Street writing center host a literary conference here in Boston called The Muse & the Marketplace. When I saw the poster for this year's festivities, however, it struck me that it just didn't adequately depict the real relationship that exists between the two entities. So, with my crude photoshop skills, I gave it a wee tweak:


There should probably be a riding crop in there, too, you know, but you can't have everything. Just use your imagination.



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What are your feelings on "intellectual elitism"? I get the feeling from reading some of your reviews and posts that the radical or subversive ideas you're defending would be lost on those who'd benefit most from them...

Just a thought, not a critique.

Edmond Caldwell said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for writing. I'm afraid I don't completely understand your question, though. How does "intellectual elitism" even arise as an issue in the case of this particular post you've chosen to respond to? Surely dollar signs and ball-gags are not rarified hermetic symbols known only to a handful of initiates. And who are "those who'd benefit most" from my ideas, and how should they best be addressed in order to "benefit" them? I write about intersections of culture and politics for an imagined audience of other writers & readers in a language appropriate for that audience. Should I be writing about the same things in a different way for a different audience, or about different things in the same way for a different audience, or about different things in a different way for a different audience?

Clarify things a little for me and maybe we can proceed from there -- although I would also ask you to identify yourself because I think it's best for all sides in such an exchange to take responsibility for the positions that they advance.

A. Ominous said...

Do I whiff beale... ?

Edmond Caldwell said...

or "school of"

Anonymous said...

A bafflingly opaque question. Mind you, W.C. Handy didn't write 'Beale Street Blues' for nothing, you know:

If Beale Street could talk
Beale Street could talk
Married men would have to
Take their be-eds and walk

A. Ominous said...

If it only it were *that* Beale (the useful one), M!