In the cases where we have objective measures (like memorization contests) we see records being broken all the time (which is as we’d expect). A lot of this can be attributed to improved general intelligence, but we’d expect that to be correlated with creative skill too. Are there any measurable world records from the Elizabethan era that still stand?
The damning point here is that you are willing to bite the bullet and say it applies to sciences as well, where we would, contrariwise, naturally expect the earlier a scientist to live, the easier it is to make incredible discoveries and pick up low-hanging fruit. Only an early scientists has a hope of discovering, say, gravity. Or an early mathematician something like calculus. You have to live as early as Parmenides if you want to discover something basic and extremely important like ‘the moon is illuminated by the sun’.
You’re measuring something here, but I don’t think it’s likeability. Newton may have been more historically important than Einstein, but no-one would prefer the former’s theory of gravity to the latter’s. If Shakespeare got pretty close to the perfect tragedy, but there was a slight refinement of the form from the 19th century that’s better (if less significant), surely people would prefer to watch that, and count themselves fans of that author.
Are there any measurable world records from the Elizabethan era that still stand?
I’m not sure what sort of world record you would have in mind, and given the parlous state of science at the time, what world records would you trust? If, for example, I exhibited a Chinaman from the Ming who lived for 231 years, which is surely a world record, you would rightly reject this by saying ‘it is much more likely that this world record is inaccurate than he really did live to 231, given how notoriously bad records were at the time, the cultural value set on being the oldest man in the world, etc’.
If Shakespeare got pretty close to the perfect tragedy, but there was a slight refinement of the form from the 19th century that’s better (if less significant), surely people would prefer to watch that, and count themselves fans of that author.
If Shakespeare helped define what the perfect tragedy was, and all later tragedies felt the ‘anxiety of influence’, this isn’t so clearcut. See my other comment.
In the cases where we have objective measures (like memorization contests) we see records being broken all the time (which is as we’d expect). A lot of this can be attributed to improved general intelligence, but we’d expect that to be correlated with creative skill too. Are there any measurable world records from the Elizabethan era that still stand?
You’re measuring something here, but I don’t think it’s likeability. Newton may have been more historically important than Einstein, but no-one would prefer the former’s theory of gravity to the latter’s. If Shakespeare got pretty close to the perfect tragedy, but there was a slight refinement of the form from the 19th century that’s better (if less significant), surely people would prefer to watch that, and count themselves fans of that author.
I’m not sure what sort of world record you would have in mind, and given the parlous state of science at the time, what world records would you trust? If, for example, I exhibited a Chinaman from the Ming who lived for 231 years, which is surely a world record, you would rightly reject this by saying ‘it is much more likely that this world record is inaccurate than he really did live to 231, given how notoriously bad records were at the time, the cultural value set on being the oldest man in the world, etc’.
If Shakespeare helped define what the perfect tragedy was, and all later tragedies felt the ‘anxiety of influence’, this isn’t so clearcut. See my other comment.