Status Updates From Why Literature Still Matters

Ch. 1 I think the struggle Hollywood has in telling good stories has something to do with the loss of imagination caused by turning from truth, beauty, and goodness. Baxter is reminding us that a more is better mentality can be empty. Pouring more and more in and ramping up expected output leaves no time for thought and reflection. Are we boiled down to producers, consumers, and decomposers?

I also read the two poems by Yeats. While I still struggle with reading a poem well, that is the point, isn’t it? Materialism and enlightenment thinking causes us to strip down language to clear and obvious. That strips away wonder, discovery, lingering. Check. Got it. Move on. No need the think.

They smugly predict their daughter will live in a better world, not realizing that COVID was right around the corner and, in his limited, myopic vision, he makes decisions that limit free speech and prevent people from having access to true preventative measures. I found the letter to their second daughter (also pre-COVID) but no letter to the third daughter (post-COVID). I hope that means they have learned humility.

Ch. 1 Tale of Two Islands - I read the Zuckerberg-Chan letter. It has not aged well. It has the pompous techie arrogance that we saw on full display during COVID. Let the experts decide for you. We’re smart. We know better. It’s also very sterile. They believe that science and technology will provide all the answers and solutations and usher humanity into a new era. Have the read Utopia?

Preface - To answer the question, we need to understand how literature feels and to figure out why moderns have a hard time understanding it as well as her sister, the arts. Well, I know what CM would say! Both point us to beauty, and we have lost the ability to perceive it. He will use two travel experiences to answer the question. The book is short because the situation is dire.