Conversation: A History of a Declining ArtEssayist 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. |
From inside the book
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Page 11
... English Dictionary's fifth definition of the word . Conversation also meant social interaction in general : " the action of consorting or having dealings with oth- ers , " as the O.E.D. says . In Henry IV , Part II Lancaster says ...
... English Dictionary's fifth definition of the word . Conversation also meant social interaction in general : " the action of consorting or having dealings with oth- ers , " as the O.E.D. says . In Henry IV , Part II Lancaster says ...
Page 26
... English . Leonard Tancock translates La Rochefoucauld's " la politesse de I'esprit " as " courtesy of the mind , " while Louis Kronenberger translates it as " well - bred thinking . " These translations sound stuffy to me ; I would ...
... English . Leonard Tancock translates La Rochefoucauld's " la politesse de I'esprit " as " courtesy of the mind , " while Louis Kronenberger translates it as " well - bred thinking . " These translations sound stuffy to me ; I would ...
Page 27
... English newspaper said : " Frey [ the author ] can really write . Brilliantly . And if you don't think so , f *** you . " Yet if conversation suffers from a lack of politeness , it also suffers from an excess of politeness . Watching ...
... English newspaper said : " Frey [ the author ] can really write . Brilliantly . And if you don't think so , f *** you . " Yet if conversation suffers from a lack of politeness , it also suffers from an excess of politeness . Watching ...
Page 33
... English are based on different ancient texts . Scheindlin's translation includes lengthy remarks by Elihu — a figure who does not appear in a translation by Stephen Mitchell . Scheindlin acknowledges that " Elihu's speeches may be hard ...
... English are based on different ancient texts . Scheindlin's translation includes lengthy remarks by Elihu — a figure who does not appear in a translation by Stephen Mitchell . Scheindlin acknowledges that " Elihu's speeches may be hard ...
Page 56
... English civil war , he says , " All orders of men had drunk deep of the intoxicating poison [ of religious enthusiasm ] . In every dis- course or conversation , this mode of religion entered ; in all business , it had a share ; every ...
... English civil war , he says , " All orders of men had drunk deep of the intoxicating poison [ of religious enthusiasm ] . In every dis- course or conversation , this mode of religion entered ; in all business , it had a share ; every ...
Contents
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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Common terms and phrases
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