“The sympathies of a well-adjusted person can easily be aroused by the plight of strangers. Indeed, the skillful writer of a novel, a play, or an opera can engage our emotions on behalf of people who are not only strangers to us, but who do not even exist! And a person whose emotions cannot be so aroused is not behaving normally.” PeopleWellsPersonsPlayEmotionNovelStrangerOperaHuman ConditionBehalfSkillfulPlight Author:John Derbyshire
“The reason I shift gears constantly, why I'm doing an opera, why I've done essays, why I've written poetry for years that nobody wanted, why I do short stories and novels and screenplays... is so I will have new ways of failing. This means becoming a student again.” WayYearsMeanReasonDoneStoriesWantedNovelFailingWrittenStudentsBecomingShort StoryOperaNew WaysEssaysGearsScreenplays Author:Ray Bradbury
“Cinema is a kind of pan-art. It can use, incorporate, engulf virtually any other art: the novel, poetry, theater, painting, sculpture, dance, music, architecture. Unlike opera, which is a (virtually) frozen art form, the cinema is and has been a fruitfully conservative medium of ideas and styles of emotions.” KindHas BeensArtIdeasUseFormEmotionNovelStylePaintingTheaterConservativeArchitectureMediumsCinemaMovieOperaFrozenSculptureDance Music Author:Susan Sontag
“Writing is the main gig and teaching and performing are sidelines, an excuse for not writing more. Working on a novel and on an opera make me seriously want to retire and find a volunteer job as a docent at the zoo explaining to schoolchildren where frogs go in the winter.” WantWritingJobsNovelTeachingWinterExcusePerformingRetiringOperaVolunteerExplainingGigsFrogsZoosSidelinesDocents Author:Garrison Keillor
“The majority of American writers today have chosen passive non-resistance to things as they are, producing sloughs of poetry about their personal angst and anomie, cascades of short stories and rivers of novels obsessed with the nuances of domestic relationships - suburban hanky-panky - chic boutique shopping mall literary soap opera. When they do speak out on matters of controversy they attack not the evils of our time but fellow writers who may insist on complaining.” MayMatterStoriesTodayEvilSpeakNovelRiversFellowsMajorityComplainingChosenResistanceObsessedOur TimeShort StoryShoppingOperaPassiveControversySoapAngstMallsNuanceSpeaks OutSoap OperasChicAmerican WriterCascadeSloughAnomie Book:One Life at a Time, Please Source: One Life at a Time, Please
“Sometime during the 1990s, when I was teaching philosophy at UCSD, my friend, colleague, and music teacher, Carol Plantamura, discussed the possibility of teaching a course together looking at ways in which various literary works (plays, stories, novels) had been treated as operas, and how different themes emerged in the opera and in its original. One of the pairings we planned to use was Mann's great novella and Britten's opera. Unfortunately, the course was never taught, but the idea remained with me.” WayIdeasDifferentPhilosophyPlayStoriesUseTogetherCoursesNovelTeacherTeachingPossibilityTaughtMy FriendsOriginalsVariousTreatedThemeOperaColleaguesCarolsLiterary WorksMusic TeacherWork Play Author:Philip Kitcher
“In the long term, you have to believe that movies and TV shows will be like the opera and the novel, pretty nichey businesses.” BelieveLongShowsTermNovelTvsLong TermOperaTv Shows Author:Reed Hastings