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PAln lSAN Fl...EV IEW
get us away from th at fu ndamental fact. We also kn ow t hat yo ung peopl e
don' t read t he se ri o us boo ks. An d w hen yo u talk abo ut th e numbe r of
books being publi shed , yo u kn ow w hat a seri o us boo k se ll s. Yo u kn ow
w hat pu bli shers expec t of books . Many se ri o us books do n' t sel l because
th ey're no t rea d , and w hat I've been hea ring is an attempt to ge t aro un d
thi s cen tra l fac t by ci tin g eviden ce of some o th er kin d .
Dorothea Straus:
Do yo u thin k th at the rati o of seri o us books read for–
merl y and now is the same, o r lower? I think it's about the same, reall y.
William Phillips:
It's probabl y abo ut the same o r maybe a littl e lower. I
thi nk, if yo u wa nt
to
extend thi s, th at seri o us books were read by seri o us
peopl e, and now th ey're still read by se ri o us peopl e, but th ere may be fewe r
seri o us people.
David Sidorsky:
It's hard er th an th at even . Th e culture in declin e is ma ny
thi ngs. If yo u look at Ameri can scho larshi p, it's to rn be twee n po li tic izati on
of the wo rk and very narrow tec hni ca l read in gs o r exegesis. T here is very
Ii
ttl e cri ti cism w hi ch is th e cri ticism o f th e kind th at was referred to in th e
past. I think th at's tru e of th e American academ y. It's tru e of the Wes tern
Euro pean academ y. I thin k th e decl in e in standards is rea l. When Dar io Fo
wins the N obel Pri ze in Ii te rature, that says some thin g. The evidence is, I
think , stro ng that the re is some so rt of culture of d ecl in e. What exactl y are
the symp toms and w hat exactl y are the causes? It's very complex and
deba tabl e. I feel like Willi am . Arguin g the facts seems to me very, very di f–
fic ul t.
Speaker:
Isn' t that th e cry of eve ry ge nera ti o n?
David Sidorsky:
Yes, and sometimes it's ri ght.
Renata Adler: I
think th e ques ti o ns are w here yo u raise them . It's not
somethin g that happens every ge nerati o n or so o r every few yea rs. Th e
questio n is no t w heth er peopl e m y age read cO llli c books w hen they we re
yo ung o r w heth er there's some pop culture thin g go ing on o r no t. T hi s is
very deep, it goes to almos t all instituti o ns of culture. It has a lo t to do w ith
poli tical correctn ess . It's not just about readin g and po li tical correc tn ess
separately and a li ttl e decl in e in sta ndards. C hildren in schools are studying
th e structure of th e po p song. It's not even th at schools pa nder to th e chil –
dren . The child ren are too young to pander to. T hey are teachin g thi s
r ubbi sh day and ni ght. I think it's kin d of a mi rac le if somethin g good is
happenin g in th e Third Wo rld, beca use it strikes me all t he time th at th ese
