December 14, 2001

The Proper Role of Sentiment

To the Editor:

One question that James Elkins does not seem to have posed to his art historians is, "If great art does not make you cry, what does?" ("The Ivory Tower of Tearlessness," The Review, November 9). I suspect he might have found (if his subjects had answered honestly) that they have been made to cry by what they would ordinarily consider the lowest forms of crafted expression: movies, romantic novels, television dramas. The fact that such forms bring so many to tears is