John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle, "Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living" (Princeton UP, 2023)
New Books in Literary Studies
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The Importance of Meaningless Work
Sally Kohn: I was especially struck by what you did with what you and Jonathan did in the chapters about immoral work and meaningless work. So much of our discussion to work today is increasingly gravitating around those it's, while we definitely talk about the impact of AI or say 3D printing upon taking away manufacturing jobs. We seem to be engaged more and more with this notion that so many so many of us work jobs that don't seem to have any practical function. She says Thoreau thought about meaningless work in a couple of different forms. But he would kind of suggest that there might be "a level of unacceptable enanity," she adds.
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