Scott Esposito—interview
by Finn Harvor on June 11, 2007
At Conversations in the Book Trade, an interview with Scott Esposito—lit-blogger at Conversational Reading, critical essayist at The Quarterly Conversation, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Enquirer, and elsewhere:
Q:Literature is in trouble—that is, more trouble than usual. Why do you think this is? The increasing prevalence of TV? The distractions of increasingly narcotic subcultures such as video games? Sept. 11? Or is talk of the “death of literature” simple exaggeration?
A: I think that on this question perspective is very important. The NEA report tells us that reading is down in America. This is probably true, but I think it’s too early to tell if this is a fluctuation of a trend.
Just the other day I read in a newspaper that, statistically speaking, the average Mexican reads one book per year. In Argentina and Chile the number is three. And these are countries with some of the most esteemed literary traditions in Latin America.
Comparatively, Americans still read a fair amount. The NEA report doesn’t say exactly how many books per year, but looking at the report it’s clear that it’s much more than in these countries. I think we’ve got a very firm, institutionalized culture of reading, and that’s going to be tough to shake....
See also interviews with Ian Brown, Patrick Crean, Jennifer Barnes, Jennifer Banash, Philip Marchand, Judy Stoffman, and others.
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Comments
Great interview but don’t think that games can be treated like narcotics
– california drug rehabilitation (11/26 at 26-Nov 08:37 -05:00)
I think a lot of it has to do with the Internet. Life seems to be moving at a quicker pace these days and I feel less like sitting down and reading. Being able to listen to a podcast or something on the news is much more easier than sitting down to read a book or newspaper. I believe that the internet really contributes to this as well.
– Mr. Drug Rehab (01/25 at 25-Jan 19:32 -05:00)
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Just in considering whether reading is decreasing or coming to a hault in the USA, if the Bookmooch site is any indication, reading is a pretty healthy pasttime. I joined Bookmooch this year and regularly get mooched from and try to mooch certain books that get taken before I can even log on and take it the moment it pops up on my email. Only a perspective but a fun one!
Melissa
– Melissa Ackerman (06/12 at 12-Jun 07:56 -05:00)