Gossip
The Untrivial Pursuit
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A look at the delights—and dangers—of gossip, from a New York Times–bestselling, "erudite writer, gifted with rare insight and a wry sense of humor" (USA Today).
Gossip is no trivial matter. In this enlightening and entertaining study, the author of Snobbery takes a look at a human activity that may be looked down upon, but nevertheless plays a persistent role in our society—and therefore, must be taken seriously.
Joseph Epstein, who admits to indulging in this activity himself from time to time, serves up mini-biographies of history's famous gossips, and makes a powerful case that gossip has morphed from its old-fashioned best—clever, mocking, a great private pleasure—to a corrosive, destructive new version, thanks to the reach of the mass media and the Internet. This is an erudite and witty read from "a master observer of humanity's foibles" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
"Epstein defines categories of gossip, from personal to celebrity, workplace, and political, and discusses how gossip 'enforces a community's norms' or, conversely, helps foster tolerance. . . . In his briskly erudite, zestfully original, and provokingly enjoyable anatomy of gossip, Epstein revels in the risky collusion of gossip within shared worlds and resoundingly condemns media-disseminated gossip that diminishes our ability to ascertain or value the truth." —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Both educational and dangerous, a form of news and idle speculation the many facets and history of gossip are explored by Epstein (Snobbery). He explores the transition from private gossip ("The only thing missing from the Garden of Eden was a third person for Adam and Eve to gossip about") to "the professionalism of gossip" with the printing press and changes wrought by the Internet, which has obliterated the divide between "private and public spheres." Delectable firsthand anecdotes and portraits of "great gossips of the Western world" Saint-Simon, Walter Winchell, Barbara Walters (who asks "the most tasteless questions of famous people... who themselves tasteless enough to answer her"), and Tina Brown (who makes "debased interest, misplaced curiosity, and voyeuristic emotion seem not tacky but perfectly all right, fun, smart") add to the pleasures of this serious appraisal. Readers who share Epstein's concern about gossip's power "to invade privacy, to wreck lives" and his reluctance to wholly condemn it "because I enjoy it too much" will find him disquieting and delightful.
