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| What manner of smarm is this? |
The man's got snark, which immediately wins me over (example uno: "By critical study I mean a study that does not take literacy for granted, or simply tout it as unique Western achievement, but rather "interrogates" it (as our hermeneutics of suspicion now demands) for its consequences," (xiv-xv).
The bulk of his intro is dedicated to lambasting the self-destructively rarefied trend in musicology (read: academia in toto): "this sort of writing gives everybody an alibi ... Because nobody is doing anything, the authors never have to deal with motives or values, with choices or responsibilities, and that is their alibi," (xviii). Not brain-shattering, no, but at least he doesn't let it slide.
His writing's excellent imho, but I'm only a few pages in. A bit of pithiness goes a long way.
Another point in Taruskin's favor is his prompt namedrop of one of my personal medieval favorites: Notker Balbulus ("The Stammerer"). Poor guy wrote De Carolo Magno, a collection of anecdotes about Charlemagne. But really all you need to know is his name: Notker Balbulus.
More to come.
