I can’t say I’m 100% upset we’re entering a recession. While I think success is good for any economy, the contrarian in me sees the pendulum swinging further and further, if its good for the arts to boot, count me in
A Temple University English professor even has pointed to all the great literature produced during the 1930s: James Agee, Nathanael West, Henry Roth. The list goes on. “If it’s true that adversity can bring out creativity,” the professor said recently, “then the Great Depression was one of the great creative periods of our time.”
Is redemption really a five letter word away O-B-A-M-A?
In some ways, all this redemptive talk in the face of the evils of capitalism ought to sound familiar. In a kind of regular “market correction” of the heart, Americans want to believe that it is possible to mitigate the sins of their own economic system. I’d go so far as to identify rituals we use, even in good times, to exorcise the demons and soften the harsh realities attendant on living and dying by the market.
So what you’re really saying is on some level, we not only need this, but desire it?
We look back on those who lived through the Depression with a certain amount of reverence. We wonder whether current generations can show as much courage under duress as previous ones have. What I hear in all the silver-lining talk is this: Contemporary Americans are eager to prove that they are up to their own make-or-break challenge.
While the greatest generation is something my peer class will never be, I’m still up for the challenges we’re yet to face.
