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Conversations with Tyler

Dana Gioia on Becoming an Information Billionaire

Conversations with Tyler

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2021

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,

0:08.4

bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.

0:12.6

Learn more at mercatis.org.

0:15.2

And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit

0:20.4

ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.

0:26.3

Hello everyone and welcome back to Conversations With Tyler.

0:30.0

Today I have Dana Joya and the way I think of Dana is he is the only guest I have ever

0:35.4

had who can answer all of my questions.

0:38.6

But he does have another biography.

0:40.6

At the top of the biography it reads, Dana Joya is an internationally acclaimed poet and

0:45.5

writer.

0:46.5

He is the former California poet laureate and former chairman of the National Endowment

0:51.5

for the Arts.

0:52.9

Most notably he has a new book out, it's a kind of memoir, excellent book.

0:56.8

I loved reading it.

0:57.8

It's called Studying with Misbishop.

1:00.8

Memoirs from a young writer's life, misbishop of course, being Elizabeth Bishop.

1:05.3

But Dana has numerous other books, including books of poetry.

1:09.3

A book, the Catholic writer today, perhaps his most famous work is Ken Poetry Matter.

1:15.6

Dana is also an accomplished librettist for opera and he has done much, much more on top

1:20.6

of all of that.

1:21.8

And Dana, welcome.

...

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