“It may be expecting too much to expect most intellectuals to have common sense, when their whole life is based on their being uncommon -- that is, saying things that are different from what everyone else is saying. There is only so much genuine originality in anyone. After that, being uncommon means indulging in pointless eccentricities or clever attempts to mock or shock.” MayMeanDifferentWholeLife IsCommonToo MuchWhole LifeCleverGenuineCommon SenseShockOriginalityExpectingPointlessMockUncommonEccentricityExpecting Too Much Book:Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays Source: Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays
“I attacked those Western playwrights who use their influence and affluence to preach to the world the nihilistic doctrine that life is pointless and irrationally destructive, and that there is nothing we can do about it. Until everyone is fed, clothed, housed and taught, until human beings have equal leisure to contemplate the overwhelming fact of mortality, we should not (I argued) indulge in the luxury of "privileged despair."” WorldShouldHumansFactsUseLife IsCan DoHuman BeingsInfluenceTaughtEqualDespairWesternDoctrineLuxuryDestructiveFedsMortalityOverwhelmingLeisureContemplatingPrivilegedIndulgePlaywrightPointlessIndulge InAffluence Author:Kenneth Tynan
“You imagine a reader and try to keep the reader interested. That's storytelling. You also hope to reward the reader with a sense of a completed design, that somebody is in charge, and that while life is pointless, the book isn't pointless. The author knows where he is going. That's form.” KnowsTryingBookFormLife IsImagineDesignReaderRewardsStorytellingPointless Author:John Updike