Research Catalog

Title

The cruel radiance : notes of a prosewriter in a visual age / Ron Powers.

Author

Powers, Ron.

Publication

Hannover, NH : University Press of New England, [1994], ©1994.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xv, 250 pages; 23 cm

Summary

• The dominance of the electronic media has altered the way we think and write, Ron Powers observes in this collection of essays, stories, and literary nonfiction. A noted journalist whose work in print and television has earned both a Pulitzer Prize and an Emmy Award, Powers decries the effects of the mass media on the quality and nature of American life and letters.
• Broadcasting's emphasis on sound bytes and stark visuals performs a kind of linguistic lobotomizing that has weakened the fabric of American community because it has undermined the craft of writing.
• For Powers, writing and culture are inextricably intertwined; good storytelling is as central to the American temperament as jazz or baseball because it helps perpetuate our unique character: "In telling the people of a certain place the elemental tales about themselves and their place, the teller creates the common consciousness necessary for community. Likewise, the common consciousness of a community at once enhances the need for a teller.".
• But Powers does not just defend good storytelling; he practices it, and the selections here serve as clear examples of the kind of thoughtful, well-turned writing he argues for. Bread Loaf Writers' Conference lectures, excerpts from the fiction of social issues, and journalistic pieces about TV's quirks and influences all embody the high prose standards of a consummate craftsman.
• As a chronicle of Powers's ongoing inquiry into the effects of rapid social change on American life, The Cruel Radiance illustrates both his resistance to the engineering of mass-produced thought and his affirmation of the value of human community.

Subject

• Journalism > Authorship

Contents

Pt. 1. Five Bread Loaf Lectures. Bread Loaf Lecture, 1983: Tilting at What Is Not There: The Journey into Nonfiction. Bread Loaf Lecture, 1985: On Memory as Destiny: My Rediscovery of Hannibal. Bread Loaf Lecture, 1988: "Don't Think of It as Art": Nonfiction and the Inflected Voice. Bread Loaf Lecture, 1991: Toward the Light: Finding Truth Amidst the Virtual Reality. Bread Loaf Lecture, 1993: Before We Disappear: Affirming Words in the Age of the Gun -- Pt. 2. Excerpts from Books. from Face Value (A Novel). from Toot-Toot-Tootsie, Good-Bye (A Novel). from Super Tube: The Rise of Television Sports, The Iceman Clowneth. from White Town Drowsing: Journeys to Hannibal -- Pt. 3. "Sha-Da-Boom!" (A Story) -- Pt. 4. TV Criticism. The Cool, Dark Telegenius of Robert Pittman. Joe "the Living Legend" Franklin Is a Very Lovely Guy. We've Got Proof! Real (Sick) People. It Came from New Jersey. L.A. Law: D.O.A. Trivial Pursuits.

ISBN

0874516900

LCCN

94020541

OCLC

ocm30594064

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries