If you listened to the last episode of Citations Needed, you heard that the CIA funneled money into into cultural institutions like the Iowa Writers Workshop and the Paris Review to win the cultural war against communism. Much of this led to the emphasis on first-person writing and a focus on individual experience.
I don't know about you comrades, but I got Ds throughout secondary (high school) in English. I fucking hated 20th century lit. Are there any pretentious and overly individualistic writers that you blame on the CIA?
I was just thinking about this last night. I think Ken Kesey for sure, check out the plot summary for his other well known book.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sometimes_a_Great_Notion
God i love that book! Def has some “muh both sides” vibes tho
I’ve had it on my bookshelf for years and I’ve kinda written it off lately, think it’s still worth reading?
It’s beautifully written, and much more approachable than the length suggests. Captures western Oregon beautifully. Lots of great parallels between greek tragedy structure and fate to the material conditions, ideologies, and relationships we are formed from.
I’m curious how organized labor is portrayed
Poorly lol