Re: Future of RPG

["James H H Lampert" <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I said that because I recall wasting ALOT ALOT of time in lit classes
> while some "learned professor" attempted to provide us with the
> "enlightened meaning" behind stories and prose...ad nauseum!
>
> I'm reminded SPECIFICALLY what Melville said after tiring over the
> ceaseless bantering by these kinds of dolts, to the effect of:  'There's
> NO hidden meanings...IT'S JUST A STORY..." when talking about Moby
> Dick...

. . .

THAT is something I would not disagree with. And I've had plenty of
spirited (yet very friendly) arguments with a local junior college writing
instructor over my own assertion that not only are "literary fiction" and
"genre fiction" NOT mutually exclusive; indeed, there is no such animal as
"non-genre fiction," since even "contemporary realism" counts as a genre.
But using a classroom as a captive audience to proselytize one's personal
theories is hardly unique to Literature. It's the major fault I find with
Niklaus Wirth, and his theories about structured programming. It's also
the major fault I find with ANYBODY who decides that ANY programming
language, or ANY coding methodology, is the one that should supplant
EVERYTHING ELSE that's been done.

And as to Moby Dick, well, yes it is just a story. It's a story about a
fellow whose obsession destroys him, and drags just about everybody around
him down, too. And it's a story about whaling. (It is not, however, a
"social disease.")

--
JHHL