{"id":8673,"date":"2015-04-19T23:09:42","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T03:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=8673"},"modified":"2015-04-20T05:16:07","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T09:16:07","slug":"episode-115-idlers-and-belgians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-115-idlers-and-belgians","title":{"rendered":"Episode 115 – Idlers and Belgians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show:
\nEdward Mendelson – Idlers and Belgians<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Episode_115_-_Idlers_and_Belgians.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“I have a private test for whether I’m an individual person or whether I’m part of the culture: I go to the supermarket and I look at the supermarket weeklies, and if I recognize the names, then I’m not a person, I’m a product of collective culture.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"moral-agents200\"<\/a>Professor Edward Mendelson<\/a>\u00a0joins the show to talk about his new book,\u00a0Moral Agents: Eight Twentieth-Century American Writers<\/a>\"\"\u00a0(New York Review Books), which profiles Lionel Triling,\u00a0Dwight Macdonald,\u00a0Alfred Kazin,\u00a0William Maxwell,\u00a0Saul Bellow,\u00a0Norman Mailer,\u00a0WH Auden,\u00a0Frank O’Hara. We discuss the role of individuals in mass culture, the intellectual’s temptation to\u00a0be a leader, the outdated figure of the Beloved Professor, Orwell’s misinterpretation of Auden, the writer he was terrified to meet, the failures of identity politics, the purpose of Columbia University’s Core Curriculum, his lack of nostalgia for the era of public intellectuals, the way certain books need a year off from teaching in order to recharge, and more.\u00a0Give it a listen!<\/a><\/p>\n

“All these writers were tempted by the way they were taken seriously.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We also talk about why he hates one of my favorite novels, why he agrees with my take on Achilles’ uncanniness in the Iliad, why professors think students are getting dumber year after year, how the economic collapse of the ’70s led to improved colleges across the country, why he thinks Stoner<\/a>\"\" is a study in self-pity, and more! Go listen!<\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Episode_115_-_Idlers_and_Belgians.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Edward<\/a><\/p>\n

Enjoy the conversation!<\/a>\u00a0Then check out\u00a0the archives<\/a>\u00a0for more great episodes! You might like:<\/p>\n