Anti-intellectualism is ignorant. It surely is. And that was the jist of her comment, not an opinion on the book.

Excuse me??? I'm anti-intellecutal? No, I'm offended, is what I am. I have resisted for years saying I think you're an intellectual snob in both literature and music, but I see I need no longer restrain myself.

Anti-intellectualism is ignorant. It surely is. And that was the jist of her comment, not an opinion on the book.

I disagree. You're reading FAR too much into her comment. A person can dislike a book/author without being "anti-intellectual."

This thread has seen this kerfluffle before, when someone expressed a negative opinion about a Great Work, and the opinion was extrapolated to be anti-intellectualism.

And yes, the kerfluffle I'm referring to is the one that was kicked off when I said that I didn't like Moby Dick. My dislike of one book out of all of literature was taken as an attack on intellectualism, which was patently untrue, just as it is this time.

You can't take one comment that Connie makes about one book out of the whole of literature and deduce that it's an anti-intellectual screed.

PLEASE don't lets go there again.

But thanks for your opinion of my intelligence.

Ignorance refers to what you don't know. Not your capacity for thinking.

And somebody can stand in front of a Kandinsky and say, "My kid could paint that" and it's still an ignorant comment.

Know-nothingism is bullshit, and I'm not sorry to call it out.

Know-nothingism is bullshit, and I'm not sorry to call it not.

So you're extrapolating from my dislike of one author that I have no regard for literature that's considered difficult? You are accusing me of know-nothingism?

I await your apology, sir.

I have no problem with Connie not liking Joyce. Lotsa folks don't like Joyce. And I don't think liking or not liking Joyce is a measure of intellect and hec is bringing an un-needed smackdown. However, saying it is "gibberish" is awfully dismissive of an incredible literary work.

Seriously, David. PLEASE stop this right now.

It's unkind, and you are a very kind man. Please don't do this.

I got to agree with Scrappy on this one.

(or...is there a story of his that's about going to some sort of crowded open-air marketplace?)

A fair or a festival, perhaps? I was thinking of "Araby" when I mentioned Joyce's shorter works. It's a delight to read even if the mood is very somber.

And while "gibberish" is a very blunt way of putting forth an opinion (certainly blunter than Buffistas typically are), not getting a particular writer's experiments with language don't equate to anti-intellectualism.

Gibberish may have been a bit fraught an adjective, and I can see where it would be considered unpleasant to those who enjoy Joyce's prose. I apologize for that.

But for nothing else.

I have to admit that I attempted Ulysses on my own once(because it was a banned book) and I had no idea that it was a Thing that people did for years, sometimes. What I got from it is that I thought there were bits that I thought sounded cool. Is that more or less intellectual than not reading it? I've never attempted Moby Dick, though it's one of David Simon's great favorites. The heft discouraged me a little, I have to admit.