Thursday, August 18, 2005

Sigh...

What a great conversation this is, between Camille Paglia and Robert Birnbaum. Two intelligent people dishing and quite often disagreeing. And it's all about what's happened to culture! One thing I hadn't thought of that they both agree on- part of the reason that Manhattan has become such a cultural dead zone in the last decade is that artists can't afford to live there. But, it's all good- like listening to your two smartest friends at dinner after a few drinks.

CP: What I am saying is we need a major reclamation project here. What I am saying on the [book] tour about Western civilization, that we are supposedly defending by going into the Middle East with this military incursion. I’m saying it’s more than the Bible—

RB: You are assigning a responsibility to artists that I wouldn’t think that all artists accept—to be the publicist or—

CP: Yeah, this is why they are shrinking. This why they are unimportant. You can make a killing in the arts or you can be struggling but it’s an artificial, hollow world right now. Many people are trying to do art but absolutely it’s subterranean in terms of the culture as a whole. The arts have never taken root in America. Ever since Puritan New England—this is a business-oriented culture as opposed to Europe where it’s a part of the cultural heritage of the nation.

RB: And you are blaming the segment of the population that is artistic—

CP: Yes, I am.

RB: As opposed to acknowledging that the culture is not fertile for arts.

CP: It isn’t fertile for the arts and therefore something is necessary. Artists, cultural organizations and the universities and primary schools have the obligation to put art more to the forefront. Instead of 30 years of badmouthing Western culture—

RB: [laughs]

Anyway, as usual, I don't agree with everything, but it's fun stuff.

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