[ashark]

"I want to retain my own identity. Therefore the thing I’m most anxious to avoid is any kind of work that can be considered ‘interesting’ in its own right. I want something that can’t possibly touch me. I want some big, swollen corporation that’s been bumbling along making money in its sleep for a hundred years, where they have to hire eight guys for every one job because none of them can be expected to care about whatever boring thing it is that they are supposed to be doing. I want to go into that kind of place and say, Look. You can have my body and my nice college-boy smile for so many hours a day, in exchange for so many dollars, and beyond that we’ll leave each other strictly alone."

- Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road, 1961

I don't wanna go dig through my copy to find it right now, but there's also a pretty long bit where he describes how most of the "work" that most of the "workers" at his (the character, Frank Wheeler's) firm do is making brief comments on various proposals or memos or whatever then sending them off to other people for their comments, trying to avoid being caught with the hot potato and actually having to do whatever's being proposed. They're all very good at it.

Again, written in 1961.

[coaxial]

Thanks, added to my trading list. There is also a movie apparently with large Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

[SubuSS]

> large winslet

heh I hope that's a typo

Boy oh boy it is a depressing book/movie: prepare like you prep for an episode of black mirror I guess.