Another round of kid's lit bashing

[Tim Regan]

Hi All,

There's an awful piece on Radio 3's "Lebrecht Live" on why adults
shouldn't read children's books. If you are in need of making your blood
boil you can listen to it here: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/lebrechtlive/ 
http://tinyurl.com/3v7p9 

But, if you do listen to it and need some help calming down, try Philip
Pullman's analysis of the programme:
>>> I thought the discussion was a rich mixture of ignorance and
condescension, and when you take into account the technical clumsiness
and the simple ineptitude of the presentation, it added up to one of the
most vulgar pieces of broadcasting I've heard for a long time.  Vulgar
because it pandered to what it thought a clever audience would naturally
think, without taking the trouble to think for itself. There was a sort
of idle smart-aleckry at work; the dismal assumption that naturally
everything to do with children would be of a lower standard than
anything to do with adults. This is why teaching is regarded as a
second-rate profession, and why paediatrics is the least respected of
medical specialisms, and so on. Howard Jacobson is an amusing cove, some
of the time, but he was invited to play up to a sort of blazing-eyed
Leavisite zealotry and unfortunately fell for the temptation.

The result was a lamentable Roundhead oafishness that would have been
alarming if it had any power behind it. Is it really better to read
nothing than to read Harry Potter? Really? Nothing? Ever? What canting
drivel. <<<

Cheers,

Dumbledad.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]