What is the role of the arts in American culture? Is art an essential element? If so, how should we support it? Today, as in the past, artists need the funding, approval, and friendship of patrons whether they are individuals, corporations, governments, or nonprofit foundations. But as Patronizing the Arts shows, these relationships can be problematic, leaving artists "patronized"--both supported with funds and personal interest, while being condescended to for vocations misperceived as play rather than serious work. In this provocative book, Marjorie Garber looks at the history of p...
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As defining as Christopher Lasch s "The Culture of Narcissism, " Allan Bloom s "The Closing of the American Mind, " and Dinesh D Souza s "Illiberal Education" were to the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, respectively, Marjorie Garber s "The Use and Abuse of Literature" is to our times.
Even as the decline of the reading of literature, as argued by the National Endowment for the Arts, proceeds in our culture, Garber ( One of the most powerful women in the academic world "The New York Times") gives us a deep and engaging meditation on the usefulness and uselessness of literature in the digital ag...
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