Interesting. In the 1980s I took the train to work. People read paperbacks and newspapers. Even those who couldn't get a seat and had to stand. And when I traveled to London and Paris in the 80s and 90s, same thing. London had the most readers and some of them could easily hold a tome as big and heavy as jest while the tube car rocked and rolled. And they weren't doing if as performance. Writing was generally universal. Not like now.
It's fascinating to me how now, elites, or self-perceived elites, think reading is passe or performative. And I see the same downward spiral for language. Emojis and grunts, snarls, hoots of laugher replacing real conversation.
On a broader scale, we see the ghetto culture rising up and becoming the popular culture. Fascinating and sad.
Reading has declined for a number of reasons--the internet, the 'smart' phone, and I would ad, the decline of the culture into woke nonsense and the decline of story. Yes, novels are published, but story has suffered. Why would someone (in 1985) heft a 500 page paperback on a rocking subway train? Because the story was compelling and well written and based in reality, not bullshit fantasy realities like we now have.
Anyway, no matter how dysfunctional and stupid this culture gets, I will continue to write good story that's engaging and based in what I consider to be reality, modern publishing be damned.
Watch for my latest coming in July. Seeing Sunny Again, stories that the schmucks who run Big Publishing would never publish because they're too honest about the real world.
Oh, and as far as picking up women is concerned, I would tell young men to just be themselves. The current madness is unsustainable. Reality will have its day.
You say to "take the work seriously not yourself" but you haven't done either of those here. It's a bad article. You hardly state your case, just lazily wave at (and project onto) Hemingway and Mishima, two very serious people. Did Mishima also *kill himself* for social media clout and pussy? You totally misunderstand him.
More importantly, quality > quantity. Too much of a bad thing is a bad thing. Posers are parasitic and destroy genuine artistic movements by commoditizing them and cashing them in for money and status. When your literary scene is full of them it's like the woodshed is infested with termites. The raw material is ruined before you've had any time to use it to build something. It also repels people of actual quality, because they don't want to be surrounded by vain obnoxious retards (like you).
It's alright. I know you're just writing to defend yourself, because really, that person you're describing is you. It would explain why you picked such bad literary examples. I mean, you could have used someone like Oscar Wilde who you could at least make a case for. You just don't know what you're talking about. Enjoy your nice little LARP I guess but you are NGMI.
I read all of War & Peace on the Tube on a kindle because I am a flipping saint!
But yes, the gist of this article gets at an broader point that is important across all of ”the West”.
People who raise 20th century luxury quibbles need to be smacked down.
I’ve maybe seen two A24 movies, but screw it that crowd is watching and talking about movies and the jump from there to something good is hypothetically possible where as the TikTok audience is a lost cause.
There was a time to shame and critique those with bad taste in order to further the medium but the relativists and anti-racist crowd destroyed the reward for excellence infrastructure.
Similarly, while people were debating Catholic/Protestant/Mormon/Atheist the hordes descended and Indian CEOs swung in to make the whole conversation immaterial.
Crucial and important article… take that feminist literati! You’re now common cause friends with problematic author reading members of the Local Pipe Layer’s Union.
This is a fresh answer to the question of how literary culture propagates, and a funny one: through vanity, imitation, desire, aspiration etc., all those really embarrassingly human impulses that don't sound very highbrow, but are realistic. I agree with you. We need new forms of our oldest oral tradition; any will do for now. We need people to congregate in person around books, stories and ideas.
Yeah sorry, the whole premise here is just wrong and dumb. Plenty of people still prefer reading dead tree books and people have always read in public. The idea that status seeking is “the only reason” anyone would read a paperback in public is asinine.
Sorry, I disagree. If books simply become performative mating signals, then it's fair to say Mishima or Bukowski is not going to put you within punani-sniffing distance. Probably you have to carry around something like White Fragility to show you're a super sensitive guy. if the sales go up for crappy books, it's not a win for literature. Also, I read to read, not to get laid.
The original IJ cover from 96 is the one with the clouds. Thats the 2016 edition cover
John you’re embarrassing me (please stop)
This is peak performative commenting.
Preach.
I am hoping that was a joke, but I did come to the comments to shame him for this
Interesting. In the 1980s I took the train to work. People read paperbacks and newspapers. Even those who couldn't get a seat and had to stand. And when I traveled to London and Paris in the 80s and 90s, same thing. London had the most readers and some of them could easily hold a tome as big and heavy as jest while the tube car rocked and rolled. And they weren't doing if as performance. Writing was generally universal. Not like now.
It's fascinating to me how now, elites, or self-perceived elites, think reading is passe or performative. And I see the same downward spiral for language. Emojis and grunts, snarls, hoots of laugher replacing real conversation.
On a broader scale, we see the ghetto culture rising up and becoming the popular culture. Fascinating and sad.
Reading has declined for a number of reasons--the internet, the 'smart' phone, and I would ad, the decline of the culture into woke nonsense and the decline of story. Yes, novels are published, but story has suffered. Why would someone (in 1985) heft a 500 page paperback on a rocking subway train? Because the story was compelling and well written and based in reality, not bullshit fantasy realities like we now have.
Anyway, no matter how dysfunctional and stupid this culture gets, I will continue to write good story that's engaging and based in what I consider to be reality, modern publishing be damned.
Watch for my latest coming in July. Seeing Sunny Again, stories that the schmucks who run Big Publishing would never publish because they're too honest about the real world.
Oh, and as far as picking up women is concerned, I would tell young men to just be themselves. The current madness is unsustainable. Reality will have its day.
Best on your literary journey!
You say to "take the work seriously not yourself" but you haven't done either of those here. It's a bad article. You hardly state your case, just lazily wave at (and project onto) Hemingway and Mishima, two very serious people. Did Mishima also *kill himself* for social media clout and pussy? You totally misunderstand him.
More importantly, quality > quantity. Too much of a bad thing is a bad thing. Posers are parasitic and destroy genuine artistic movements by commoditizing them and cashing them in for money and status. When your literary scene is full of them it's like the woodshed is infested with termites. The raw material is ruined before you've had any time to use it to build something. It also repels people of actual quality, because they don't want to be surrounded by vain obnoxious retards (like you).
It's alright. I know you're just writing to defend yourself, because really, that person you're describing is you. It would explain why you picked such bad literary examples. I mean, you could have used someone like Oscar Wilde who you could at least make a case for. You just don't know what you're talking about. Enjoy your nice little LARP I guess but you are NGMI.
I keep my copy of infinite jest tucked surreptitiously behind an illuminated manuscript, so that those on A train know the true depth of my intellect.
I read all of War & Peace on the Tube on a kindle because I am a flipping saint!
But yes, the gist of this article gets at an broader point that is important across all of ”the West”.
People who raise 20th century luxury quibbles need to be smacked down.
I’ve maybe seen two A24 movies, but screw it that crowd is watching and talking about movies and the jump from there to something good is hypothetically possible where as the TikTok audience is a lost cause.
There was a time to shame and critique those with bad taste in order to further the medium but the relativists and anti-racist crowd destroyed the reward for excellence infrastructure.
Similarly, while people were debating Catholic/Protestant/Mormon/Atheist the hordes descended and Indian CEOs swung in to make the whole conversation immaterial.
Crucial and important article… take that feminist literati! You’re now common cause friends with problematic author reading members of the Local Pipe Layer’s Union.
This is a fresh answer to the question of how literary culture propagates, and a funny one: through vanity, imitation, desire, aspiration etc., all those really embarrassingly human impulses that don't sound very highbrow, but are realistic. I agree with you. We need new forms of our oldest oral tradition; any will do for now. We need people to congregate in person around books, stories and ideas.
Yeah sorry, the whole premise here is just wrong and dumb. Plenty of people still prefer reading dead tree books and people have always read in public. The idea that status seeking is “the only reason” anyone would read a paperback in public is asinine.
I near wore out my copy of infinite jest performative reading then one day I found myself actually reading
Choice of words in your writing are itself performative intellectualism
Sorry, I disagree. If books simply become performative mating signals, then it's fair to say Mishima or Bukowski is not going to put you within punani-sniffing distance. Probably you have to carry around something like White Fragility to show you're a super sensitive guy. if the sales go up for crappy books, it's not a win for literature. Also, I read to read, not to get laid.
Yet to enjoy this side of the lit-world, been trapped mainly in the Frenchosphere; rất cảm ơn 🙏