Benjamin Moser on the Dutch Masters, Brazil, and Cultural Icons

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2024

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Take our Listener Survey

Benjamin Moser is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer celebrated for his in-depth studies of literary and cultural figures such as Susan Sontag and Clarice Lispector. His latest book, which details a twenty-year love affair with the Dutch masters, is one of Tyler's favorite books on art criticism ever.

Benjamin joined Tyler to discuss why Vermeer was almost forgotten, how Rembrandt was so productive, what auctions of the old masters reveals about current approaches to painting, why Dutch art hangs best in houses, what makes the Kunstmuseum in the Hague so special, why Dutch students won't read older books, Benjamin's favorite Dutch movie, the tensions within Dutch social tolerance, the joys of living in Utrecht, why Latin Americans make for harder interview subjects, whether Brasilia works as a city, why modernism persisted in Brazil, how to appreciate Clarice Lispector, Susan Sontag's (waning) influence, V.S. Naipaul’s mentorship, Houston's intellectual culture, what he's learning next, and more.

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

Recorded February 15th, 2024.

Other ways to connect

Follow us on X and Instagram
Follow Tyler on X
Sign up for our newsletter
Join our Discord
Email us: [email protected]
Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.

Photo Credit: Philippe Quaisse

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello everyone. This is Tyler. We want to hear from you about the show. In the show
0:09.2	notes there's a link to a short survey where we want to learn more about you. Why do you listen to the
0:15.2	podcast? What do you think is under or overrated about the show? Is there someone you would just
0:20.8	love to hear me interview. Your feedback will help us
0:24.2	understand our listeners so we can produce better episodes as well as future live
0:29.2	events and listener meetups. Again, please find the link at the top of the show notes to fill out the survey.
0:36.2	And thank you. We very much appreciate your feedback.
0:41.2	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercadus Center at George Mason University,
0:49.3	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems.
0:53.0	Learn more at Merkatus.org.
0:56.0	For a full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful links,
1:00.0	visit Conversations with Tyler.com.
1:07.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to Conversations with Tyler.
1:11.0	Today I'm very happy to be chatting with Benjamin Moser, and Benjamin Moser has no title.
1:16.8	He is a writer.
1:18.0	He is an author of a very recent book, which I liked very, very much.
1:22.0	That book is called The Upside Down World, Meetings with Dutch Masters. Benjamin
1:27.1	is probably best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Susan Sontag, and he also has the best-known English language
1:35.0	biography of the Brazilian author Clarice Luspecter, and he has a home page where he writes
1:40.9	on many disparate topics whatever comes to mind for him.
1:44.3	Benjamin, welcome.
1:46.3	Thank you.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Conversations with Tyler, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Conversations with Tyler and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.