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Alan Schmidt's avatar

Cultivated literary personas are nothing new. I can't find the article, but I once read how Kurt Vonnegut basically completely remade his personality and appearance to sell his books.

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Owen Yingling's avatar

Great piece. A "thin thematic layer" is a great way of putting how oddly empty so much of contemporary literature sometimes seems. It's so frustrating to start a book with a rich premise and then end up on a rigid guided tour of the least interesting parts.

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