The Literary Life
(from Civilization in The United States)
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 30 days of Standard free
£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
The Literary Life
Narrated by:
Eleesha Lewis
Buy Now for £6.39
-
Narrated by:
-
Eleesha Lewis
-
By:
-
Van Wyck Brooks
Brooks argues that the United States possesses abundant talent but too often fails to nurture it. Writers are pushed toward popularity, commercial success, conformity, and practical usefulness, while serious artistic ambition is treated as impractical—or even suspect. The result, he suggests, is a literary culture in which promising voices compromise their work, abandon their calling, or leave the country in search of a more supportive intellectual life.
Drawing on figures including Edith Wharton, Theodore Dreiser, Walt Whitman, Henry James, and other major writers, Brooks explores publishing, cultural leadership, artistic independence, and the absence of a strong literary community capable of sustaining creative careers.
Originally published in the influential 1922 anthology Civilization in the United States, The Literary Life remains a provocative critique of the uneasy relationship between art, commerce, and American culture.
Narrated by Eleesha Lewis.
The original essay occupies pages 179–198 of Civilization in the United States and argues that American literary talent is repeatedly weakened by commercial expectations, lack of cultural support, and pressure from popular taste
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet