Cultural Selection: Why Some Achievements Survive The Test Of Time And Others Don't

Taylor, Gary

ISBN 10: 0465044891 / ISBN 13: 9780465044894

Published by Basic Books, 1997

About this Item

A sound copy with only light wear. Overall a solid copy at a great price!

Seller Inventory # BOS-N-05j-01592

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Cultural Selection: Why Some Achievements Survive The Test Of Time And Others Don't
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465044891
• ISBN 13: 9780465044894
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Acclaimed literary scholar Gary Taylor creates a new paradigm for understanding cultural history. He argues that culture is not what was done, but what is remembered and that the social competition among different memories is as dynamic as the biological struggle for survival. Taylor builds his argument on a broad base of cultural achievements, from Michelangelo to Frankenstein, from Shakespeare to Casablanca, from Freud to Invisible Man. He spans the continents to draw upon Japanese literature, Native American history, ancient Greek philosophy, and modern American architecture.

Review

Taylor, a Shakespeare scholar at the University of Alabama, believes that "culture is not what was done but what is passed on ... it is always motivated, always mediated." The passing on is done by "editors": publishers, reviewers, teachers, and curators. In Cultural Selection, Taylor examines the function of the editor, whose role, he says, is not unlike that of the politician in a democracy, which is to "represent other people."