Farber had a huge effect on me as a writer. I don't mean I write like him. Farber is, first of all, a great stylist, a great writer. Anyone can read Manny Farber's film criticism, whether that person is a novelist, a poet, another critic, a historian, and learn a lot about writing by reading him.
Greil MarcusListening is like running down a mountain on a switchback trail, the sound of surprise generating its own momentum. Thereโs a punk glee inside the bluegrass craftโand a punk vehemence inside the bluegrass smile.
Greil MarcusI was the first records editor at Rolling Stone, and there were no rules. There was nothing to fall back on as to how do you write about this kind of music, so people were trying absolutely everything with a great sense of freedom and experimentation and success and failure, and a feeling of, โMy God, people are actually paying attention to this. Letโs pretend they arenโt because we donโt want to be intimidated by what somebody might think of what weโre saying.
Greil MarcusPatriotism in America, as I understand it, is a matter of suffering, when the country fails to live up to its promises, or actively betrays them.
Greil MarcusWhatโs the impulse behind art? Itโs saying in whatever language is the language of your work, โIf I could move you as much as it moved me โฆ if I can move anyone a tenth as much as that moved me, if I can spark the same sense of mystery and awe and surprise as that sparked in me, well thatโs why I do what I do.โ
Greil MarcusWe fight our way through the massed and leveled collective safe taste of the Top 40, just looking for a little something we can call our own. But when we find it and jam the radio to hear it again it isn't just ours -- it is a link to thousands of others who are sharing it with us. As a matter of a single song this might mean very little; as culture, as a way of life, you can't beat it.
Greil Marcus