Jennifer Burns: belief

Transcript context

…Why is it, in the 20th century in America, fiction seems to have been so much more important for the left than for the right? Especially if you take away Rand. Why that huge difference? That’s such an interesting question. It may have to do with a general truism that this artistic and creative life is often a bohemian life as well, in which traditions — whether they be traditional marriage or traditional monogamy — things like that are questioned as part of the creative process. It seems to be where things ferment. If you are a person who values tradition and values established norms and social practices, that may not be an environment conducive to creating imaginary worlds. So, I think you need a culture to support artistic creation and fiction creation. Once a culture tips a certain way, it kind of goes that way. I could certainly imagine societies — and perhaps your listeners will know ones, too — where the production of fiction is done more by conservative writers or thinkers. I would imagine they have a culture to support that, even if it’s just a city, a university, a small tradition, a literary school. But I do think, as much as creativity is individual, it flourishes in community, so if you don’t have that community, it doesn’t get written. Why are there so few successful businesswomen in American fiction? There’s Rand, there’s Gone with the Wind, but very little else comes to mind.…

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