Wolfe is lyrical, almost like a classical bard. He has incredible powers of description, each detail named and set in its place in a whirled-up tableau. He has an innate sense of a long-winded story and launches into it with every ounce of his forceful personality.
Art in the Age of Empire
What then remains within our own power? We have our opinions, reactions, and attitudes, as Epictetus notes, but I would say we also have art. We all have the capacity for art in one form or another. And by this I mean real art, art that is not subject to utility, obsolescence, or official approval. It is done for its own sake, and makes its own meaning.
Yeoman, Again
I think America today churns about in an enormous feedback loop because our societal and political foundations are not compatible with the archetypes ---- the characters, if you will ---- around which our contemporary moral discourse revolves. Our national imagination is limited to three basic archetypes, who certainly reflect who we are, but not where we have come from, nor what we should strive for. Those three are the capitalist, the vigilante, and the progressive politician.