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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Pàgina xiv
... talk . In Chapter One I explain what I mean by conversation . In Chap- ter Two I discuss conversation in the ancient world , focusing on two works : the book of Job and Plato's Symposium . In Chapter Three I look at three questions that ...
... talk . In Chapter One I explain what I mean by conversation . In Chap- ter Two I discuss conversation in the ancient world , focusing on two works : the book of Job and Plato's Symposium . In Chapter Three I look at three questions that ...
Pàgina
... talk— Johnson certainly talked to Hester Thrale, confessing many of his deepest anxietiesto her—but they argued that conversationalso has psychological benefits. According to Swift, Hume, and Johnson, spendingtimeintheconversible world ...
... talk— Johnson certainly talked to Hester Thrale, confessing many of his deepest anxietiesto her—but they argued that conversationalso has psychological benefits. According to Swift, Hume, and Johnson, spendingtimeintheconversible world ...
Pàgina 3
... talk to the 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 ...
... talk to the 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 ...
Pàgina 4
... talking — waiting for my chance to say what I wanted to say . Swift — like Montaigne and La Rochefoucauld — also thought ... talk too much about themselves and their medical problems . " Some , without any Ceremony , will run over the ...
... talking — waiting for my chance to say what I wanted to say . Swift — like Montaigne and La Rochefoucauld — also thought ... talk too much about themselves and their medical problems . " Some , without any Ceremony , will run over the ...
Pàgina 7
... talk ever with a smile , condole with a smile , etc. " Swift also disapproves of argument . " Argument , as usu- ally managed , is the worst sort of conversation . " Yet he doesn't say where raillery ends and argument begins . He ...
... talk ever with a smile , condole with a smile , etc. " Swift also disapproves of argument . " Argument , as usu- ally managed , is the worst sort of conversation . " Yet he doesn't say where raillery ends and argument begins . He ...
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 |
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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