Literary Significance & Criticism
Although more than a century has passed since its publication, the novel's satirical observations of political and social life in Washington, D.C., remain pertinent.
Playwright and screenwriter David Mamet, speaking of his book Bambi Meets Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Business, used The Gilded Age as a metaphor for Hollywood. On an NPR call-in show, Mamet drew comparisons between the Hawkins family's 40-year quest to win funding for a dam in their hometown and the plight of a young filmmaker trying to sell a script in the unforgiving studio system.
Read more about this topic: The Gilded Age: A Tale Of Today
Famous quotes containing the words literary, significance and/or criticism:
“I went to a literary gathering once.... The place was filled with people who looked as if they had been scraped up out of drains. The ladies ran to draped plush dresses—for Art; to wreaths of silken flowerets in the hair—for Femininity; and, somewhere between the two adornments, to chain-drive pince-nez—for Astigmatism. The gentlemen were small and somewhat in need of dusting.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“History is the interpretation of the significance that the past has for us.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“In criticism I will be bold, and as sternly, absolutely just with friend and foe. From this purpose nothing shall turn me.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)