S.R.S., I suppose so, but that so many people disagree as to greatness doesn't really change my idea about it. People are wrong.

   Having an opinion about art is like misplacing a twenty dollar bill somewhere--there's no authority to appeal your case to, no re-imbursement of the value you may feel you've earned.

    It's just a matter of what we find convincing. But the idea I tried to illustrate helps me understand why some stuff continues to matter, despite so many weaknesses, whereas other smoother and cleaner stuff passes with fashion. The meanings in greater works are more deeply rooted in the form and conception and raw material of the work, and not simply talked about in whichever form and manner was adopted, uncritically, as the way an artist is "supposed to do it". In great work, what the work actually is matters more than whatever it says. I suppose I'm a formalist.