Mammonart: An Essay in Economic Interpretation
1925
Mammonart: An Essay in Economic Interpretation, written by Upton Sinclair and published in 1925, examines the interplay between art and economics. Sinclair argues that artists are often influenced and controlled by socioeconomic structures and the ruling classes, using a fictional character named Ogi to illustrate the evolution of artistic expression. The essay critiques how art can serve as propaganda, reflecting the interests of those in power rather than the broader society, and highlights the socio-political implications of artistic creation.
Editions
X-Ray
“A large section of the idling classes of England get their incomes by believing that Jesus was born of a virgin and that Jonah swallowed a whale; and with the progress of science they were naturally finding this more and more difficult. A school of ingenious Bible-twisters arose, to invent symbolical and literary meanings for fairy tales, in order that people who no longer believed could continue with good conscience to collect the salaries of belief.””
— Upton Sinclair
