Personal Economy and Me

With all of Barbara Herrnstein Smith's talk of personal economy, I decided to delve into the issue for myself. Smith argues that art has no intrinsic value-- only "use" value, or the value that we as interpreters assign it. She states that our personal economy-- our ideals, our cultural background, what we value-- shifts. Supposedly we can't become conscious of our personal economics.

But I wonder whether that last statement is correct. Don't our preferences in art and literature speak to our values? Why, then, should we lack self-consciousness?

For instance, I can consider the titles under my "Favorite Books" list on Facebook. (Perhaps this is a cheesy example, but at least it's honest.) My first title is the Bible, which says quite a bit about my values: I find religion worthwhile, I can envision a divine ideal, I come from a Judeo-Christian background, I appreciate ancient poetry, I value narratives . . . etc. I also included the works of John Donne on this list, which means that I can swallow extended conceits, I respect the past, I read from an Anglo-American perspective, and I value form and order.

Yet another facet of Smith's idea is the concept that personal economies shift. I find this believable, and I can ask myself how my own personal economy shifts. How do my values and ideals change as I read?

For me, the greatest shift occurs when I read for assignments as opposed to leisure. I want my assigned reading to make me think, to draw me into a narrative or a set of ideas. I also find that I value concise readings over lengthy, endless tomes written by authors who enjoy the appearance of their own words on the page. I want to grasp what's written and to be able to formulate a thoughtful response within my graded essays and research papers.

I think that some of my preferences within so-called academic reading bleed over into what I value in the works I read for pleasure. However, my personal economy also displays noticeable shifts. For example, I choose to read books or articles based on their relevancy to my own personal issues, and I tend to prefer nonfiction when I read for pleasure. (What kind of an English major am I?!) I value works that I can pick up again after setting them aside for a number of months. However, the stylistic preferences that I have within my assigned reading carry over in my leisurely reading: I want a work (however informal) to be written well. This means using clear, colorful, and powerful diction, imagery, and syntax as well as strong character development.

I guess I could say that Smith's "Contingencies of Value" fits within my personal economy. It certainly made me pause and evaluate my own personal reading economy.