December 6, 1992 I want to thank Daven and Michael M. for their cordial and closely-reasoned replies to my posting. As to the latter, when I re-read it, I realized that it could be interpreted as being unduly hostile, and for that, I apologize. When I said I was too tired to respond, I wasn't being petulant; I've just come off a very gruelling on-again-off-again concert tour, and I really am tired. However, the quality of the two aforementioned responses deserves the effort of as good an answer as I can manage, so here goes.... First, a seeming digression. In 1970, when I was a student at the Aspen Music Festival, I was put into a piano quintet; nothing unusual about that, except that the group was like the United Nations: one white male pianist (me), a black female cellist, one Hungarian violinist (male), a Korean violist (male), and a Korean violinist (female). The language we had in common was English, but that was only with four of us; the violist spoke Korean and French (he was a student at the Conservatoire). For six weeks, we worked three times a week on the Brahms Quintet, often under a coach (she was from Texas), at the end of which time, we performed the work at one of the final concerts. It really is impossible to convey in words the sense of unity, community, and friendship that developed between the five of us during those six weeks. Our various cultural backgrounds were interesting to all of us, and the various stories we told each other about where we grew up served to enhance our growing friendships, but in terms of our art, such considerations were *totally* irrelevant. Even the lack of a common language meant absolutely nothing; the music bridged all barriers as if they weren't even there (which, in fact, they never were...??? Whatever!). Anyway, I had always been told that Art builds bridges, and eliminates borders, but this was the first time I had experienced it first hand. It was a lesson I've never forgotten. It seems to me that an ideological treatment of Art seeks to do the opposite: it not only seeks to blow up the bridges, but further, it seeks to redefine the borders on racial and/or sexual grounds, fortify them with walls manned (!) with howitzers, and demand an I.D. showing one's genetic lineage as proof of one's fitness for entry. Only Native American's are fit to write about Native Americans, only women should write about women, and yes, only blacks should be permitted to write about blacks. I realize that neither Daven nor J.D. Stahl were advocating anything approaching this kind of fascist nonsense, but I am speaking here of a philosophical bottom line. In Canada, we have already had proposals that Canada Council grants be withheld from a writer who uses native mythology without the permission an official spokesperson from a native group. I trust completely in the integrity of Daven, J.D. Stahl and Michael M. However, I have the uncomfortable feeling that, were Twain a black author, their reactions to *Huck Finn* might have been different, unless they hold the view that only a white male could have written it as it now stands. If this latter is true, then I rest my case. To me, the most profound statement ever made about the relationship between art and ideology was when Yeats said: "You can refute Hegel, but you can't refute Sing a Song of Sixpence"; in other words, don't confuse categories of discourse: literature should be dealt with as literature, and not as something which perhaps you find a little more interesting (such as philosophy, politics, ethnicity, religion, ideology, astrology, phrenology, etc., etc.). In terms of race, I heard it said best by a musician: during a conversation, in which the topic of her racial heritage was being discussed, she was asked who the greatest black composer was. Her reply: "George Gershwin". Is it perhaps the view of my three friends that *Rhapsody in Blue*, and *Porgy and Bess* are "racist" in the same way as is (sic) *Huck Finn*? I certainly hope not. But if not, I'd be interested in hearing wherein lies the difference. Anyway, I guess that's all I have to say. Sorry if I rambled, but the topic is a big one, and my brain is too fried to compose a concise response. Cheers, Leslie Kinton Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario.