[Xmca-l] "Generic"

[R.J.S.Parsons]

In another context, I'm working on a quote from Stravinsky: "Tradition
is generic; it is not simply ‘handed down’, fathers to sons, but
undergoes a life process: it is born, grows, matures, declines, and is
reborn, perhaps. These stages of growth and regrowth are always in
contradiction to the stages of another concept or interpretation: true
tradition lives in the contradiction."

I thought "generic" might be a misused equivalent for a Russian word. I
thought "organic" or "generative" might describe better what follows.
Then I realised it was spoken in English. (It's from "Memories and
Commentaries: New One-Volume Edition" Compiled and Edited by Robert Craft.)

But the original question still stands in the sense that perhaps
Stravinsky had a Russian concept in mind and found a not very good
English equivalent. So can anyone shed any light on what the Russian
concept behind "generic" might have been?

Rob
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