Word: meaningfulness
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Civilization, and the apotheosis of abstraction. When words become their own meaning, when Angry Young Men and hipsters plunge into the night and the academicians experiment with style--ask me why there is no literature.
Did not Eliot return to dead cultures, ancient languages, and the Legend of the Fisher King? Did not Yeats sustain himself on the Irish folklore? Did not Lawrence traipse across continents to Mexico, seeking the meaning of the Aztecs, the wisdom of primitive man?
You come nearest to the ancient rhythms in jazz and rock 'n' roll. Your modern art has lost its meaning. The myth, tongue of the unconscious and language of the race, was sanctioned solely by children, savages, and fools--before Freud. And now only by psychiatrists.
Such coups d'état have gone on for centuries, but have taken on an ominous new meaning since Nasser came to power, proclaiming an Arab nationalism that overleaps borders and spreads by inflammatory radio appeals. If the rebels succeeded in consolidating their revolt, Nasser would become the undisputed...
"Where the hell else but in America could you have a cheerful nihilism?" asks a leading character in this highly diverting book, which is a comedy with a tragic ending and, occasionally, a farce with a philosophical meaning. The character who asks the question is Joe Morgan, a history teacher...