In an interview with The New York Times about his new book, “The Secret Knowledge,” David Mamet says, among other things, that it’s “none of our goddamned business” how much money C.E.O.’s on Wall Street make….that he might have been anticapitalistic when he was younger and didn’t have a penny, but he cannot “go on denouncing capitalism” since he is now older and richer….that the only thing an M.A. in English can do is bag groceries. Here’s his parting shot at English majors: “Jesus Christ. Listen, here’s the thing about an English degree—if you sat somebody down and asked them to make a list of the writers they admire over the last hundred years, see how many of them got a degree in English.”
Now I know why I’ve never admired David Mamet.
If he’s so successful, why is he so bitter? And I notice he’s careful to distinguish admirable writers to the last hundred years. Because before that they were English majors? Or because no one before that was admirable? I never admired Mamet either.
I’m fairly anti-Mamet as well. Any selling out like that really makes me worry about his work generally.
Read reactions to Mamet’s latest project, the life of “lady-killer” Phil Spector, at:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/david-mamet-defending-phil-spector.html