The Times columnist James Marriott joins me to discuss the decline of reading comprehension, the risk-averse publishing industry, the addictive nature of digital media, a new Dark Age of literacy, and why ambitious young people should still pursue writing careers. Hope you enjoy! You can find the transcript of our conversation here. Important Links:JM’s SubstackX ProfileJames Marriott at The Times Show Notes: (00:00) Guest Introduction (01:18) Cultural Pessimism as a Source of Hope (05:53) The Death of Ambient Culture (11:59) The Proliferation of Junk Text (15:10) The Last Great Novelists (23:47) Risk-averse publishers remove allusions from Books (27:39) If Dickens Tried to Publish Today (30:44) Can Anyone Read Dickens Anymore? (39:32) The Attention Economy vs. Human Relationships (42:45) Humanities as the Cultural Capital (48:32) The Kafka/Larkin model: boring day jobs enable artistic risk-taking (51:29) Start now, don’t wait for permission (55:23) Pessimistic Optimism instead of a Relentlessly Upbeat Culture
From "The Hope Axis by Anna Gát"
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