Exactly. Only academe and the commentariat give two hoots about this. Does a reader like these books? Then….like them. The whole fandango seems shriekingly overthought.
Indeed – very little point to all this. I will stick with that sublime novel sequence, Anthony Powell’s “Dance to the Music of Time” which is, admittedly, semi-autobiographical but in a less convoluted way.
Oh gosh, I don’t want to be philistine, and there is no reason we shouldn’t have articles on literature and even writers on UnHerd, but boy did this go on, and on, and on!
There is something very suspect about someone writing anonymously in the 21st century; the Brontes had a good reason, she does not.
Ferrante had a reason to write anonymously. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, the only important thing is authenticity and, if you can fake that, you have it made.
Yes, some characters seem to be trying to build a species of nihilistic career for themselves, by predicting literature’s demise and working to fulfil that prophecy. Let’s hope they don’t garner any significant audience.
Several publishers have stated that they don’t intend to publish a single book by a male writer this year.
I think that explains the fiction section at Waterstones.
I’m sceptical but there is a case to he made in western countries. Things have changed radically even in the last 5 years. Everything is now about ‘relevance”, ‘cultural appropriation’ is out, and almost every real life author is likely to fall foul of the hysterical and fanatical wokies who seem to inhabit most publishers
Adam Bartlett
2 years ago
Not 100% sure this relevent, but from Simone Weil’s brilliant essay ‘Human personality’ : “When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestations of personality they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man’s name live for thousands of years. But above this level, far above, separated by an abyss, is the level where the highest things are achieved. These things are essentially anonymous.”
Styff Byng
2 years ago
“As literature limps along…” what hyperbolic nonsense.
Drahcir Nevarc
2 years ago
I’m only reading books written by white men until wokeness dies.
You shouldn’t take it out on, say, African authors who aren’t responsible for woke nonsense.
Amanda Marks
1 year ago
How could someone write an entire essay about an Italian novelist and issues of her identity and never once use the word Italian? I suspect that there’s no uproar about Ferrante’s being “an upper-class woman passing herself off as lower-class” because the Italians don’t find it problematic in the way we in the US, who are obsessed with identity politics, do. Perhaps the land that gave us the Renaissance is perfectly fine an artist redefining herself however she wants and giving life to any experiences she cares to, as long as the result is excellent brilliant?
Last edited 1 year ago by Amanda Marks
Rick Lawrence
2 years ago
Oh dear. The title of this piece is absurd and the piece itself, well, shall we say a waste of ink.
Grappling, as you say, ‘with a question both tedious and unanswerable.’ But mostly tedious.
Exactly. Only academe and the commentariat give two hoots about this. Does a reader like these books? Then….like them. The whole fandango seems shriekingly overthought.
Indeed – very little point to all this. I will stick with that sublime novel sequence, Anthony Powell’s “Dance to the Music of Time” which is, admittedly, semi-autobiographical but in a less convoluted way.
Oh gosh, I don’t want to be philistine, and there is no reason we shouldn’t have articles on literature and even writers on UnHerd, but boy did this go on, and on, and on!
There is something very suspect about someone writing anonymously in the 21st century; the Brontes had a good reason, she does not.
Ferrante had a reason to write anonymously. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, the only important thing is authenticity and, if you can fake that, you have it made.
I just got bored halfway through as I appreciated this is just wokinistas dancing on the head of their collective safe area and went to comments.
“As literature limps along to its final extinction, regarded as irrelevant, abrasive, and even suspect by its few remaining consumers …”
Oh yeah? What’s the evidence that literature is on the way out? I’m skeptical.
Clearly some people want it to be on the way out … https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9174027/As-academics-banish-Chaucer-syllabus-historian-says-poets-work-relevant.html
Yes, some characters seem to be trying to build a species of nihilistic career for themselves, by predicting literature’s demise and working to fulfil that prophecy. Let’s hope they don’t garner any significant audience.
Well Jack Higgins died the other day.
Just go the new fiction section of any Waterstones. It’s all dross aimed at confused women.
Several publishers have stated that they don’t intend to publish a single book by a male writer this year.
I think that explains the fiction section at Waterstones.
I’m sceptical but there is a case to he made in western countries. Things have changed radically even in the last 5 years. Everything is now about ‘relevance”, ‘cultural appropriation’ is out, and almost every real life author is likely to fall foul of the hysterical and fanatical wokies who seem to inhabit most publishers
Not 100% sure this relevent, but from Simone Weil’s brilliant essay ‘Human personality’ : “When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestations of personality they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man’s name live for thousands of years. But above this level, far above, separated by an abyss, is the level where the highest things are achieved. These things are essentially anonymous.”
“As literature limps along…” what hyperbolic nonsense.
I’m only reading books written by white men until wokeness dies.
You shouldn’t take it out on, say, African authors who aren’t responsible for woke nonsense.
How could someone write an entire essay about an Italian novelist and issues of her identity and never once use the word Italian? I suspect that there’s no uproar about Ferrante’s being “an upper-class woman passing herself off as lower-class” because the Italians don’t find it problematic in the way we in the US, who are obsessed with identity politics, do. Perhaps the land that gave us the Renaissance is perfectly fine an artist redefining herself however she wants and giving life to any experiences she cares to, as long as the result is
excellentbrilliant?Oh dear. The title of this piece is absurd and the piece itself, well, shall we say a waste of ink.
I’ll take Flashman over any woman’s angry screed.