If you listened to the last episode of Citations Needed, you heard that the CIA funneled money into into cultural institutions like the Iowa Writers Workshop and the Paris Review to win the cultural war against communism. Much of this led to the emphasis on first-person writing and a focus on individual experience.

I don't know about you comrades, but I got Ds throughout secondary (high school) in English. I fucking hated 20th century lit. Are there any pretentious and overly individualistic writers that you blame on the CIA?

    • ButtBidet [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      It's not that he was talking fed money. It's that his style and success is (maybe) influenced by the very individualist, first person narrative that the CIA was pushing.

      Anyhow, it's all speculation from me. I hated A Catcher in the Rye, but I'm not going to call the guy a spook.