Volume 71, Number 11 (November 1953)

Genius Begins with Maturity (interview with Yehudi Menuhin) Paderewski as I Knew Him Problems of a Genuine Musical Culture in America Challenge of Operatic Performance on Television Musical Critical Assault and Battery (an editorial) Some Characteristics of Good Piano Teaching Dance Accompanist If You Hope for a Film Career (interview with Jeanette MacDonald) Jacques Thibaud—In Memoriamhttps://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/etude/1111/thumbnail.jp

Meat : a natural symbol

In Britain, and in cultures around the world, meat's significance extends beyond what might be anticipated from its nutritional utility. By looking at the academic and popular literature, and through a series of looselystructured interviews, this study investigates the range of ideas that people hold about meat in modern Britain for evidence as to what it is that makes animal flesh such an esteemed foodstuff. The principle conclusion is that meat's pre-eminence derives from its being a "natural" choice for human societies to use to express their control over the natural environment — a value which has long been important in Western culture. It is for this reason, for example, that we commonly relate the origins of "civilised" humanity to the beginnings of hunting or of farming, and this is likewise why meat has been a symbol of affluence, strength, and virility. Our proscription of cannibalism, our unwillingness to eat pets, and the common reference to meat in sexual symbolism, are all shown to conform to this analysis. The principle of environmental control is also shown to be a significant factor underpinning our more usual explanations of trends in the meat system. Economics; health and nutrition; ethical and religious influences; and ecological concerns, are all shown to have a significant symbolic component in addition to their overtly practical meaning

Whim of the trivial

The author begins by saying that before he was born, he lived with his parents (of course) and ends his story 86 years later with an evanescent farewell. In the interval: a life of no importance. So why tell it? For lack of a better answer, he adduces mysterious voices in the second part of Goethe's Faust: We immer streben sich bemüthn Der können wir elössen The triviality of the story is redeemed thanks to a slight seasoning of humour, and philosophy in the style of Petrarch: Si vedrem chiaro poi como sovente Per le cose dubbiose altri s’avanza E come spesso inarno si sospir