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. |
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Page x
... novelist and essayist Re- becca West argues . " It is an illusion . There are intersecting monologues , that is all . " Writing about the novelist and play- wright Michael Frayn , a contemporary critic refers to " X Preface.
... novelist and essayist Re- becca West argues . " It is an illusion . There are intersecting monologues , that is all . " Writing about the novelist and play- wright Michael Frayn , a contemporary critic refers to " X Preface.
Page xi
... refers to " the hit- or - miss uncertainty , the artificiality , the baffling complexity of conversation . " Though the eighteenth - century writers on conversation said that good conversationalists were hard to find , they thought ...
... refers to " the hit- or - miss uncertainty , the artificiality , the baffling complexity of conversation . " Though the eighteenth - century writers on conversation said that good conversationalists were hard to find , they thought ...
Page xiv
... refer to ancient writers on con- versation , so I decided to widen my horizons and include a dis- cussion of conversation in the ancient world . This work , then , is an extended essay on conversation in Western civilization . I stress ...
... refer to ancient writers on con- versation , so I decided to widen my horizons and include a dis- cussion of conversation in the ancient world . This work , then , is an extended essay on conversation in Western civilization . I stress ...
Page 12
... refers to an informal group portrait of people , usually a family . In his early years Thomas Gainsborough did many " conversation " portraits . In a recent study of Gainsbor- ough there is a chapter entitled " Conversations . " Is ...
... refers to an informal group portrait of people , usually a family . In his early years Thomas Gainsborough did many " conversation " portraits . In a recent study of Gainsbor- ough there is a chapter entitled " Conversations . " Is ...
Page 45
... refers to him innumerable times . " Socrates , " he says , " always laughingly welcomed contradictions made to his ar- guments . " Johnson refers to him favorably , and Addison men- tions him in the Spectator : " It was said of Socrates ...
... refers to him innumerable times . " Socrates , " he says , " always laughingly welcomed contradictions made to his ar- guments . " Johnson refers to him favorably , and Addison men- tions him in the Spectator : " It was said of Socrates ...
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