Are We Having a Conversation Yet? An Art Form Evolves - New York Times

Are We Having a Conversation Yet? An Art Form Evolves - New York Times: "Cicero gave advice about conversation (It ought 'to be gentle and without a trace of intransigence; it should also be witty'). Montaigne hailed its pleasures ('I find the practice of it the most delightful activity in our lives'). Henry Fielding praised it ('This grand Business of our Lives, the Foundation of every Thing, either useful or pleasant'). Adam Smith prescribed it (calling it one of 'the most powerful remedies for restoring the mind to its tranquillity').

There were also those who opposed it, or at least strongly declared other preferences. Rousseau sneered at the chatter in French salons. Wordsworth preferred nature and solitude. The writers of Romanticism shifted the emphasis, preferring to share feelings and perceptions rather than honor conversation for its own sake. Conversation became confessional — which in many ways, it still is. 'Modern writers,' Mr. Miller suggests, 'tend to dwell on the emotional rewards that come from conversation.'"