You see tragedy requires persons of heroic stature. It works on the principle of people being more than humanösuper-humanöand also being only too human. But there just aren't many great figures around now, so the tragic mechanisms can't work.

-Amis, Martin Louis
  Explaining why only comedy can reflect contemporary reality. Quoted in an interview in The Scotsman,7  Apr.

Ours is essentiallya tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically.

-Lawrence, D(avid) H(erbert)
  Lady Chatterley's Lover, ch.1.

The product oftheartist hasbecome less importantthan the fact of the artist.We wish to absorb this person.We wish to devour someone who has experienced the tragic.Inour society thisperson ismuchmore important than anything he might create.

-Mamet, David Alan
  Writing in Restaurants,'Exuvial Magic:  An Essay Concerning Magic'.