September 30th, 2009 / 1:29 pm
Snippets
Snippets
Blake Butler—
Interesting article by John Berry in the Baltimore City Paper questioning the merits of teaching Joyce’s ‘The Dead’, leading into a larger discussion of what the fuck short stories are supposed to be for anyway.
I have to assume that Berry would love George Saunders. What immediately struck me about Saunders when I first started reading him was how relevant and distinct and weird was this fiction being published in very visible places. I read those first stories of his with the impression that he was writing fiction that played a role in some contemporary discussion, that could start conversations with people who both read and didn’t read fiction regularly.
I have to assume that Berry would love George Saunders. What immediately struck me about Saunders when I first started reading him was how relevant and distinct and weird was this fiction being published in very visible places. I read those first stories of his with the impression that he was writing fiction that played a role in some contemporary discussion, that could start conversations with people who both read and didn’t read fiction regularly.
Thanks for picking this up; I got lazy. :)
Thanks for picking this up; I got lazy. :)
I turn off the TV all the time ‘cuz I can’t take it. What IS today’s “galoshes”?? Ann Coulter’s eyepatch – long blonde hair – deadpan delivery combo?? Because I sure as hell can’t even “process” THAT. It makes my brain hurt. “Foreign”.
I got bored with the last paragraph of “The Dead” a while ago but KNOW there is so much more in the story, and the whole of “Dubliners”.
Great article. Thanks for the link.
I turn off the TV all the time ‘cuz I can’t take it. What IS today’s “galoshes”?? Ann Coulter’s eyepatch – long blonde hair – deadpan delivery combo?? Because I sure as hell can’t even “process” THAT. It makes my brain hurt. “Foreign”.
I got bored with the last paragraph of “The Dead” a while ago but KNOW there is so much more in the story, and the whole of “Dubliners”.
Great article. Thanks for the link.
“…the American soul as an indecisive salted worm.”
True that.
“…the American soul as an indecisive salted worm.”
True that.
the tone of this piece immediately makes me think of Emerson’s “Nature,” when he calls for a new American aesthetic.
david peak and i had a brief comment back and forth on his blog about right now being a boiling point for another big shift in the general aesthetic, how writers and artists are tired of the PoMo and “post-PoMo” aesthetics that have been around for far too damn long, and are starting to ask more questions of themselves, their work, rather than questions of work from 50-100 years ago that is still all being taught at the university.
the tone of this piece immediately makes me think of Emerson’s “Nature,” when he calls for a new American aesthetic.
david peak and i had a brief comment back and forth on his blog about right now being a boiling point for another big shift in the general aesthetic, how writers and artists are tired of the PoMo and “post-PoMo” aesthetics that have been around for far too damn long, and are starting to ask more questions of themselves, their work, rather than questions of work from 50-100 years ago that is still all being taught at the university.
[…] John Barry is a modern day Emerson telling us to stop focusing so damn much on emulating those who came before us and write something of our damn selves. (HT: htmlgiant) […]