{"id":1754,"date":"2007-05-10T03:15:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-10T03:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2007\/05\/1754\/"},"modified":"2007-05-10T03:15:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-10T03:15:00","slug":"1754","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2007\/05\/1754.html","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

IS STUPID REALLY STUPID, OR A DIFFERENT KIND OF SMART?<\/strong>: Disputations<\/a>, as usual, makes the necessary distinctions I didn\u2019t:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cPoe is kind of dumb, you know? He isn\u2019t complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are these two sentences supposed to say the same thing? \u201cKind of dumb\u201d = \u201cnot complex\u201d?<\/p>\n

In any case, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question that Poe the man was quite intelligent, and I think this comes out clearly enough in his writing. Without thinking it through, I wonder whether readers generally think that, if the author is intelligent, the
story is intelligent. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

OK, yeah, I do think I was using \u201cintelligence\u201d to imply complexity, subtlety, doing a lot of sometimes-conflicting things rather than doing one thing really ferociously. Possibly that isn\u2019t a useful set of associations\u2013I\u2019m not sure. In general we tend to use \u201cintelligence\u201d very impressionistically, at least I do, and operate by feel more than by providing a checklist of qualities that make a work intelligent or not-so-much. Again, not sure if that impressionism illuminates more than it obscures\u2026.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure I did conflate writers and their work, as well, which was\u2013how to say?\u2013dumb.<\/p>\n

Horrible Thoughts <\/a>writes:<\/p>\n

This may sound like a stretch, but I would nominate Avram Davidson, particularly his Dr. Esterhazy stories, as thoughtful commentary on human nature under the guise of science fiction. If you\u2019ve never read through The Inquiries of Dr. Esterhazy<\/em>, you really ought to. In your stupid\/fierce conception, he would probably not be either, but the oodles of intelligence that ooze out of the text make up for any lack of ferocity. I understand that he was once a Talmudic scholar. He is also the reason that I occasionally frustrate my wife by randomly proclaiming my implacable opposition to the \u201cdamned monophysites!\u201d Often loudly, and in restaurants.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks very much to both!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IS STUPID REALLY STUPID, OR A DIFFERENT KIND OF SMART?: Disputations, as usual, makes the necessary distinctions I didn\u2019t: \u201cPoe is kind of dumb, you know? He isn\u2019t complex.\u201d Are these two sentences supposed to say the same thing? \u201cKind of dumb\u201d = \u201cnot complex\u201d? In any case, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEve Tushnet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"IS STUPID REALLY STUPID, OR A DIFFERENT KIND OF SMART?: Disputations, as usual, makes the necessary distinctions I didn't:"Poe is kind of dumb, you know?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2007\/05\/1754.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IS 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