Comments on: The Lost Roth Interview http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/ Christopher Lydon in conversation on arts, ideas and politics Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:49:43 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: katemcshane http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-19938 katemcshane Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:11:22 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-19938 Weeks after this discussion: On lannan.org, Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize winner for THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS, and author of many decent political essays that have been compiled in books) gave a speech in September 2002, called COME SEPTEMBER. You can listen to it (or get the transcript in a PDF) through the Lannan audioarchives. She covers a lot of territory, but does a wonderful job of putting 9/11 in perspective. Weeks after this discussion: On lannan.org, Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize winner for THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS, and author of many decent political essays that have been compiled in books) gave a speech in September 2002, called COME SEPTEMBER. You can listen to it (or get the transcript in a PDF) through the Lannan audioarchives. She covers a lot of territory, but does a wonderful job of putting 9/11 in perspective.

]]> By: links for 2006-09-13 at This is really happening. http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-18332 links for 2006-09-13 at This is really happening. Wed, 13 Sep 2006 02:11:56 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-18332 [...] ces Online » TV still reigns in Brazil, but here comes YouTube (tags: youtube politics) The Lost Roth Interview I love Philip Roth, and his interviews are always fantastic. (ta [...] [...] ces Online » TV still reigns in Brazil, but here comes YouTube (tags: youtube politics) The Lost Roth Interview I love Philip Roth, and his interviews are always fantastic. (ta [...]

]]> By: lee http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-18159 lee Tue, 12 Sep 2006 03:27:24 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-18159 I signed up here just so I could leave a comment on the Philip Roth piece that Christopher Lydon read the other night. I cannot express how much of a relief it was to hear those words. It often seems that we are on a crazy funhouse ride, with those guys at the wheel giving directions in some kind of wild jibberish and everyone around cheering them and jumping on as fast as they can go. Roth's words were like a pure breath of air to a person drowning, a glimpse of stillness, a realization that after all this is a crazy funhouse ride, and it's possible to step off and feel some relief, if only for a little while. Thank Mr. Roth for his clairty and willingness to call it as he sees it. Thank Mr. Lydon for sharing it. I signed up here just so I could leave a comment on the Philip Roth piece that Christopher Lydon read the other night. I cannot express how much of a relief it was to hear those words. It often seems that we are on a crazy funhouse ride, with those guys at the wheel giving directions in some kind of wild jibberish and everyone around cheering them and jumping on as fast as they can go. Roth’s words were like a pure breath of air to a person drowning, a glimpse of stillness, a realization that after all this is a crazy funhouse ride, and it’s possible to step off and feel some relief, if only for a little while. Thank Mr. Roth for his clairty and willingness to call it as he sees it.
Thank Mr. Lydon for sharing it.

]]> By: katemcshane http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-17919 katemcshane Sat, 09 Sep 2006 22:39:35 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-17919 I did not expect to like this show - no offense intended. I've heard too much discussion of 9/11 that makes my eyes glaze over, not because I don't care about the deaths of thousands of people, but because, usually, I cannot relate to what I hear. When Art Spiegelman spoke, I felt instantly more awake and interested. And when Chris read the excerpt from the Roth interview, I felt great relief and appreciation. Generally, I listen to and read a lot of left wing commentary about the politics in this country, but this was powerful in a different way, and I'm not sure exactly what the impact was. I felt grateful to hear people say things that made so much sense, that felt familiar, to know I was not alone. I used to work with children who had been abused. What the Bush machine does to people reminds me a lot of what happens in families where someone is terrorizing everyone in the house, when someone imposes an absolutely crazy view on everyone in the family and it becomes dangerous to be the person who is still able to have his or her own thoughts. When Chris spoke Roth's words, it reminded me of being in that dangerous situation and hearing the sane voice that breaks through the isolation in a crazy family and gives someone hope that there is a world other than the one you've been forced to live in. That's what art does for us. The "innocence" we lose, as far as I can see, is about losing the denial and distortion that is part of living with a version of reality that is nuts. I did not expect to like this show – no offense intended. I’ve heard too much discussion of 9/11 that makes my eyes glaze over, not because I don’t care about the deaths of thousands of people, but because, usually, I cannot relate to what I hear. When Art Spiegelman spoke, I felt instantly more awake and interested. And when Chris read the excerpt from the Roth interview, I felt great relief and appreciation. Generally, I listen to and read a lot of left wing commentary about the politics in this country, but this was powerful in a different way, and I’m not sure exactly what the impact was. I felt grateful to hear people say things that made so much sense, that felt familiar, to know I was not alone. I used to work with children who had been abused. What the Bush machine does to people reminds me a lot of what happens in families where someone is terrorizing everyone in the house, when someone imposes an absolutely crazy view on everyone in the family and it becomes dangerous to be the person who is still able to have his or her own thoughts. When Chris spoke Roth’s words, it reminded me of being in that dangerous situation and hearing the sane voice that breaks through the isolation in a crazy family and gives someone hope that there is a world other than the one you’ve been forced to live in. That’s what art does for us. The “innocence” we lose, as far as I can see, is about losing the denial and distortion that is part of living with a version of reality that is nuts.

]]> By: jdyer http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-17909 jdyer Sat, 09 Sep 2006 20:56:16 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-17909 "9/11 Kitsch?" Is there is not also anti "9/11" kitsch? “9/11 Kitsch?”

Is there is not also anti “9/11″ kitsch?

]]> By: jdyer http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-17908 jdyer Sat, 09 Sep 2006 20:54:53 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-17908 "Now we feel emasculated and we are reacting accordingly." Spare us your store front psychologizing. The murder of about three thousand of your fellow citizens is not enought to make you angry? “Now we feel emasculated and we are reacting accordingly.”

Spare us your store front psychologizing.

The murder of about three thousand of your fellow citizens is not enought to make you angry?

]]> By: Potter http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-17870 Potter Sat, 09 Sep 2006 11:55:35 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-17870 There is another bit of the Independent interview here: <a href="http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2002w42/msg00117.htm" rel="nofollow">Philip Roth on 9/11 Kitsch</a> There is another bit of the Independent interview here: Philip Roth on 9/11 Kitsch

]]> By: nother http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-17841 nother Sat, 09 Sep 2006 06:22:35 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-17841 I believe that an important reason this event has had an out of proportion effect is that they struck our ultimate phallic symbols. Not just phallic symbols of America but of the West, of Capitalism. Now we feel emasculated and we are reacting accordingly. I believe that an important reason this event has had an out of proportion effect is that they struck our ultimate phallic symbols. Not just phallic symbols of America but of the West, of Capitalism. Now we feel emasculated and we are reacting accordingly.

]]> By: jdyer http://www.radioopensource.org/the-lost-roth-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-17796 jdyer Sat, 09 Sep 2006 01:52:59 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=692#comment-17796 "PHILIP ROTH: I really don’t know, and I don’t care. That interests me as a citizen, but not as a novelist. September 11 is not something that I can draw on in an imaginative level." Let's remembrer the distinction Roth makes between fictional representation and actual events when discussing his views of 9/11. “PHILIP ROTH: I really don’t know, and I don’t care. That interests me as a citizen, but not as a novelist. September 11 is not something that I can draw on in an imaginative level.”

Let’s remembrer the distinction Roth makes between fictional representation and actual events when discussing his views of 9/11.

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