Cultural Selection (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Gary Taylor
- First Published: 1996
- Type of Work: Cultural and literary criticism
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction
- Subjects: Culture, Values, Memory, Music or musicians, Literature, Art or artists, Popular culture, Inventions or inventors
Cultural Selection: Why Some Achievements Survive the Test of Time—and Others Don’t incorporates recent research into the nature of human memory, arguing that the “editorial function” of society is more often an accident of context than a recognition of genuine superiority. According to Taylor, the plays of Shakespeare are read and performed, not because they are inherently better than other plays, but because they both suited a particular niche at the time of their composition and have been presented to succeeding generations as something “important” and worthy of...
[The entire page is 2155 words long]
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