Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!columbia!topaz!reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA From: reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: literary sterility Message-ID: <2311@topaz.ARPA> Date: Tue, 18-Jun-85 13:19:10 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.2311 Posted: Tue Jun 18 13:19:10 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 23-Jun-85 10:13:56 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 17 From: Peter Reiher Bill Ingogly writes >Sorry, Charlie's definition of literary sterility is close to the >standard one. From Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College >Edition: > > ... 3. lacking in interest or vitality; not stimulating or > effective [a sterile style] ... Only if you accept his premise that the only way in which a work of fiction can be interesting, vital, stimulating, or effective is if it wraps its reader up in its own world, a premise I do not accept. Do you? Peter Reiher