lapham’s quarterly

Death x 3: Frances Bay, Curtis White on lit’s (lack of) future, & “Why Originality Isn’t All That Important”

1. Charles Napier isn’t the only one who’s left us: Frances Bay passed away last month. No creamed corn was served at her memorial service.

2. My mentor Curtis White wrote something pretty pessimistic at Lapham’s Quarterly about the future of literature.

3. I wrote something a little more optimistic about why originality isn’t all that important.

Roundup / 25 Comments
October 8th, 2011 / 8:42 pm

Reynard Seifert

Vonnegut Gives a Free Creative Writing Lesson From the Grave

I suggest all you Harper’s/New Yorker haters get on Lewis Lapham’s Quaterly boat. Personally, I can’t believe I’ve been out to sea so long since parting ways with The Believer, although I do still find myself running fuzzy fingers sidelong across her stilted bow anytime I see one in port.

Anyway, so umm… O yeah click of his graph for Vonnegut’s writing lesson, in which he compares the plight & plot of protagonists in popular books, film & teevee, to that of Cinderella, Gregor Samsa & the kingshit himself, Hamlet.