How Technology Transforms Art

Garrison Keillor eavesdrops on some twenty-somethings at a local cafe and reasons that instant communication would have sapped modern literature of its best tropes, e.g. longing and reflection. “I live in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s old neighborhood, and it seems to me that Dexter Green in ‘Winter Dreams’ would’ve lost interest in the wealthy Judy Jones if there had been cell phones in 1922 and he could’ve texted her and hung out with her instead of worshipping her from a distance and making her a symbol of all that is noble and beautiful,” Keillor says. “Hanging out would’ve shown Dexter what a nobody she was and saved him the trouble of disillusionment.”