Les Immiserables

It’s hard to do bad interview with Errol Morris. But this exchange with Amanda Katz for the Boston Globe is particularly awesome:

We have this idea that reading leads to self-betterment. But reading can, properly considered, lead to self-immiserization!
Did you say immiserization?
I did indeed!
Like self-immolation, but into misery instead of fire.
Yeah, self-immolation is slightly different. That’s for Brunhilde. Anyway, I picked up the Dreiser story…

related: a Morris-length rumination on immiseration by geopolicratus.