Tristan and Isolda

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Verdes rigoletto is about as long as one act of triston, where wagner slowed down time to give you a very different, almost hypnotic effect. Is it plausible to believe that verdes otello is a greater work, even dramatically, than shakespeare's othello? i think it's an equal work. It's hard to compare across genres, but otello, i think, is the greatest of all the many distinguished shakespearian operas,. falstaff being a close second. Falstaff also being a gerantologists miracle. This opera that verdy does when he's 80 is a masterpiece and it is different from his earlier operas

Before he was California Poet Laureate or leading the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia marketed Jell-O. Possessing both a Stanford MBA and a Harvard MA, he combined his creativity and facility with numbers to climb the corporate ladder at General Foods to the second highest rung before abruptly quitting to become a poet and writer. That unique professional experience and a lifelong “hunger for beauty” have made him into what Tyler calls an “information billionaire,” or someone who can answer all of Tyler’s questions. In his new memoir, Dana describes the six people who sent him on this unlikely journey.

In this conversation, Dana and Tyler discuss his latest book and more, including how he transformed several businesses as a corporate executive, why going to business school made him a better poet, the only two obscene topics left in American poetry, why narrative is necessary for coping with life’s hardships, how Virgil influenced Catholic traditions, what Augustus understood about the cultural power of art, the reasons most libretti are so bad, the optimism of the Beach Boys, the best art museum you’ve never heard of, the Jungianism of Star Trek, his favorite Tolstoy work, depictions of Catholicism in American pop culture, what he finds fascinating about Houellebecq, why we stopped building cathedrals, how he was able to effectively lead the National Endowment for the Arts, the aesthetic differences between him and his brother Ted, his advice for young people who want to cultivate their minds, and what he wants to learn next.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded February 18th, 2021 Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow Dana on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.