Outside of the dreary rubbish that is churned out by god knows how many hacks of varying degrees of talent, the novel is, it seems to me, a very special and rarefied kind of literary form, and was, for a brief moment only, wide-ranging in its sociocultural influence. For the most part, it has always been an acquired taste and it asks a good deal from its audience. Our great contemporary problem is in separating that which is really serious from that which is either frivolously and fashionably "radical" and that which is a kind of literary analogy to the Letterman show. It's not that there is pop culture around, it's that so few people can see the difference between it and high culture, if you will. Morton Feldman is not Stephen Sondheim. The latter is a wonderful what-he-is, but he is not what-he-is-not. To pretend that he is is to insult Feldman and embarrass Sondheim, to enact a process of homogenization that is something like pretending that David Mamet, say, breathes the same air as Samuel Beckett. People used to understand that there is, at any given time, a handful of superb writers or painters or whatever--and then there are all the rest. Nothing wrong with that. But it now makes people very uncomfortable, very edgy, as if the very idea of a Matisse or a Charles Ives or a Thelonious Monk is an affront to the notion of "ain't everything just great! " We have the spectacle of perfectly nice, respectable, harmless writers, etc., being accorded the status of important artists.. Essentially the serious novelist should do what s/he can do and simply forgo the idea of a substantial audience. Gilbert Sorrentino
Some Similar Quotes
  1. Happiness [is] only real when shared - Jon Krakauer
  2. That's what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you're not so lovable. - Deb Caletti
  3. I may not always be with you But when we're far apart Remember you will be with me Right inside my heart - Marc Wambolt
  4. Then I discovered that being related is no guarantee of love! - Stieg Larsson
  5. But grief makes a monster out of us sometimes .. . and sometimes you say and do things to the people you love that you can't forgive yourself for. - Melina Marchetta
More Quotes By Gilbert Sorrentino
  1. Once our country is fully engulfed in a debt crisis, our economy will be torn apart, and every American will be a victim of the federal government's failure to prevent this disaster.
  2. When it comes to tyrants, dictators and terrorists, strength and the threat of force is the only language they understand.
  3. The principles that should guide American foreign policy are simple: the world is safer when America leads, only strength ensures peace and freedom, and America must stand with its allies and challenge its adversaries.
  4. Peace comes through strength, not through retreat.
  5. I believe in being a happy conservative: that you're happy because your policies will give people greater freedom, greater independence. But you have to explain why your policy makes life better.
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