Big Others: FYI:
My essay on the future of literature is up at Lapham’s Quarterly “Roundtable”.
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Curtis White has published eight books of fiction, including Lacking Character, Memories of My Father Watching TV, America's Magic Mountain, Requiem, Anarcho-Hindu, The Idea of Home, Metaphysics in the Midwest, and Heretical Songs. His non-fiction includes The Middle Mind, The Science Delusion, and We, Robots. His essays have appeared in Harper’s, The Village Voice, Salon, and Playboy.
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I wasn’t aware that literature had a future.
Ever.
Hello, Curt. I liked the article, though a bit pessimistic. Literature has always been under attack. Perhaps more so now than in some ages (maybe not the inimitable “Dark Ages”) but out of this apocalypse the traditional publishers and bookstores will evolve into something OTHER. Meanwhile, we writers keep writing every day with, as Isak Denisen said, “neither hope nor despair.”
Sir,
I welcome all of your writing, and this article was no exception. Your analysis of the current culture of bookstores is spot on, reminiscent of Orwell’s Bookshop Memories. The Net’s ability to move ideas around is nothing compared to its ability to pre-package and dilute the power of those ideas. I wonder at those comments who still hold out such hope.
Allow me to add that in the past year I’ve read all of your own books. They have brought me an immense amount of pleasure, the kind where I wave the book around over my head while explaining to my family just how these insights connect with our daily experience. Please let me buy you dinner if you’re ever in Chicago.