All Artists Are Starving Artists Now: William Deresiewicz on The Rigged Creative Economy

The Unspeakeasy With Meghan Daum

Meghan Daum

Society & Culture

4.7 • 855 Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2020

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bestselling author William Deresiewicz's new book, The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech, paints a grim picture of the state of the arts-at least as far as actual artists are concerned. For all the talk about how it's never been easier to be creative, the truth is that it's never been more difficult to do so professionally. In this conversation, Deresiewicz relays what he learned from interviews with more than one hundred working artists, how the digital economy has obliterated the creative economy, and what he portends for the future of his own career. Guest Bio: William Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic, a frequent speaker at colleges and other venues, and a former professor of English at Yale. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, the Nation, the New Republic, and many other publications. He is the recipient of a National Book Critics Circle award for excellence in reviewing and is the New York Times bestselling author of Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and A Jane Austen Education.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You should go for it because if you don't go for it, you may regret it the rest of your life.
0:08.1	You may be bitter and angry later that you let your parents brow beat you into a safer path.
0:13.8	But you must go into it with eyes open.
0:17.3	You must know how tough it's going to be.
0:19.5	You can't expect that you're going to make it,
0:21.2	that you're going to be winning Sundance at the age of 25. You must understand how difficult it's
0:28.4	going to be financially. And also, you must be prepared to change careers when you're 30 or 35.
0:36.4	Give it a shot. If you really feel called to do it, if you really feel like this is who you are,
0:42.3	this is what you have to do, which is what all of these artists told me,
0:46.3	this is who I am. I knew this is who I was from an early age.
0:49.3	Then at least give it a shot, but be prepared for what you're going to face
0:53.3	and be prepared for the fact that, you know, once you give it your shot, but be prepared for what you're going to face and be prepared for the fact that,
0:55.3	you know, once you give it your shot, you may realize that it's not going to work out. And
1:01.2	deciding not to be an artist is as legitimate and often as difficult and brave a decision
1:07.8	as deciding to be an artist in the first place.
1:13.8	Welcome to the Unspeakable Podcast.
1:15.8	I'm your host, Megan Dau.
1:18.4	My guest is author William Derejowitz.
1:24.7	His 2015 book, Excellent Sheep, The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, was a bestseller.
1:27.4	And he's also been the
1:28.3	winner of a National Book Critic Circle Award for Excellence in Reviewing. Bill's latest book
1:33.8	is The Death of the Artist, How Creators are struggling to survive in the age of billionaires and
	...

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