Monday, March 17, 2014

Philip Roth on Popular Culture


"The power in any society is with those who get to impose the fantasy. It is no longer, as it was for centuries throughout Europe, the church that imposes its fantasy on the populace, nor is it the totalitarian superstate.... Now the fantasy that prevails is the all-consuming, voraciously consumed popular culture, seemingly spawned by, of all things, freedom. The young especially live according to beliefs that are thought up for them by the society’s most unthinking people and by the businesses least impeded by innocent ends."
Philip Roth

 
Not sure I entirely agree, unless we can consider The Stones as high art with all the consequences. But it does open a debate.

Daniel Sandstrom
"My Life as a Writer"

Interview with Philip Roth
The New York Times
Sunday Book Review
 

March 2, 2014

Photo:
Philip Roth in 2012
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times




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