Conversation: A History of a Declining ArtYale University Press, 1 d’oct. 2008 - 368 pàgines Essayist Stephen Miller pursues a lifelong interest in conversation by taking an historical and philosophical view of the subject. He chronicles the art of conversation in Western civilization from its beginnings in ancient Greece to its apex in eighteenth-century Britain to its current endangered state in America. As Harry G. Frankfurt brought wide attention to the art of bullshit in his recent bestselling On Bullshit, so Miller now brings the art of conversation into the light, revealing why good conversation matters and why it is in decline. Miller explores the conversation about conversation among such great writers as Cicero, Montaigne, Swift, Defoe, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and Virginia Woolf. He focuses on the world of British coffeehouses and clubs in “The Age of Conversation” and examines how this era ended. Turning his attention to the United States, the author traces a prolonged decline in the theory and practice of conversation from Benjamin Franklin through Hemingway to Dick Cheney. He cites our technology (iPods, cell phones, and video games) and our insistence on unguarded forthrightness as well as our fear of being judgmental as powerful forces that are likely to diminish the art of conversation. |
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Resultats 1 - 5 de 57.
Pàgina xii
... force . Express yourself , they said — especially if you are angry . In so doing , you will be acting authentically . You will also feel better for it . In the summer of 2004 a surprising person invoked the xii Preface.
... force . Express yourself , they said — especially if you are angry . In so doing , you will be acting authentically . You will also feel better for it . In the summer of 2004 a surprising person invoked the xii Preface.
Pàgina xiii
... person invoked the counterculture's argument : Vice - President Dick Cheney . He did so to defend his use of vulgar language on the Senate floor . Angered by Senator Patrick J. Leahy's charges of cronyism in the awarding of contracts in ...
... person invoked the counterculture's argument : Vice - President Dick Cheney . He did so to defend his use of vulgar language on the Senate floor . Angered by Senator Patrick J. Leahy's charges of cronyism in the awarding of contracts in ...
Pàgina 3
... person on his left . He never said another word to me for the remainder of the evening . Most people who make their views known on t - shirts and bumper stickers do not want to be questioned about their opinions . I once was accosted by ...
... person on his left . He never said another word to me for the remainder of the evening . Most people who make their views known on t - shirts and bumper stickers do not want to be questioned about their opinions . I once was accosted by ...
Pàgina 5
... Person , or Understanding . " In stressing the importance of raillery , Swift was follow- ing many seventeenth - century French writers on conversation , including La Rochefoucauld , whose work he admired . Raillery , La Rochefoucauld ...
... Person , or Understanding . " In stressing the importance of raillery , Swift was follow- ing many seventeenth - century French writers on conversation , including La Rochefoucauld , whose work he admired . Raillery , La Rochefoucauld ...
Pàgina 8
... person in company , is the high- est instance of ill manners . " Swift implies that it is easy to dis- tinguish between raillery that is innocent and raillery that is nasty ( or what he calls repartee ) . Is he right ? I know that I ...
... person in company , is the high- est instance of ill manners . " Swift implies that it is easy to dis- tinguish between raillery that is innocent and raillery that is nasty ( or what he calls repartee ) . Is he right ? I know that I ...
Continguts
29 | |
EighteenthCentury Britain | 79 |
A Conversational Triumph Lady | 119 |
Raillery to Reverie | 150 |
From Benjamin | 194 |
From | 242 |
NINE The Ways We Dont Converse Now | 264 |
TEN The End of Conversation? | 291 |
Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot
Frases i termes més freqüents
According Addison admired agree American anger appeared argues asked attacked attended avoid became become Boswell Britain called century cities civil clubs Coffee coffeehouses common continually conversationalist conversible world critic culture describes dinner discussion easy effect eighteenth-century England English enjoyed essay feel Franklin friends give guests human Hume ideas implies important Instant Messaging interest Italy Johnson Lady Mary leading learned less letter listen live London look mainly manners means meet mind natural never one's opinion party passions person play pleasures poem polite popular praised questions raillery reason refers remark salon sation says seems sense social society Socrates solitude sounds speaks Spectator sublime suffering Swift talk thing thought tion told turn versation wants women Woolf writers wrote young