The Matthiessen Talks: The Idolatry Of Growth – How Much Is Enough?

Co-Presented by The Peter Matthiessen Center & Guild Hall

We live in a culture that rarely questions growth. Expansion—of markets, wealth, productivity, even the self—is treated not only as an economic goal, but as a moral good. But what happens when growth begins to function as a belief system? What, in this framework, do we worship—and what do we lose?

Moderated by writer and editor Nina Channing, this conversation brings together authors whose work engages these questions across literature, criticism, and environmental thought. Taking Peter Matthiessen’s work as a point of departure, the discussion considers traditions of writing attentive to limits, place, and forms of life not organized around accumulation.

Guest speakers to be announced.