Paglia and Author/ity

Claim: Nealon states that authorship is very ambiguous, and just because someone today is considered an "expert" in his or her field doesn't mean that they are the only ones a person should look at. This goes with Paglia's claim that a person needs more than the written word to fully grasp the meaning and concept of something.

Evidence: Just because something isn't written down doesn't mean it isn't important. Nealon writes, "Most people would agree that Native American folktales, for example, are and integral part of American literature, and should be studied...But do these Native American tales and religious ceremonies have authors? Clearly they don't have authors in the way that novels do." Paglia also feels that media, such as television, needs to supplement the written word in order for us to better understand it.

Warrant: When we see that Nealon advocates the study of more devices than those with conventional authors and Paglia advocates the use of television in addition to the written word we can conclude that they both think that the written word is not the only important thing to study.

Qualifications: The written word is still very important to understanding a concept and also to understanding what a culture values.