TRUTH.

[substitute]

The decline of fiction starring Jonathan Safran Froer

Last week the Atlantic announced that from here on in, it would be publishing fiction only once a year, in a special issue. Once upon a time, Playboy supported a whole generation of worthwhile authors, from Shel Silverstein to Isaac Bashevis Singer and a host of talented goys, too. Before that, Sports Illustrated published Faulkner. Now, there's The New Yorker and the Paris Review and little else, and the consolidation of publishing houses has nearly wiped out the mid-list author, leaving young authors with just one chance to write that great book before they get dropped, and just a handful of editors deciding who gets that one shot at the brass ring. With the decreasing number of outlets for quality fiction, each season's "young stars" find themselves praised regardless of the quality of their work—there's a common readership for Lahiri and Eggers, even though she's brilliant and he's anything but.

Comments

Re: It's worse than that.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

I never called you a fraud, or a hack, or anything at all. I just disagreed with you, and then you got angrier and angrier at me, for reasons I do not understand. It isn't "simple disagreement" when you bait me with "am I not up to your intellectual level" and use hot phrases like "parade about" and "merely trying to have a discussion". That's fight-picking.

Disagree with the article all you want, disagree all you want with me! I'm not telling you not to! You care about this shit and you are honest and forthright, and I really value that about you.

I have nothing bad to say about you at all. I disagreed with you about a matter of literary criticism and you picked a fight, and that is hurtful.

Re: It's worse than that.

[chaptal.livejournal.com]

I'm not going after you personally here either. The writer of the article you linked to, yes. I disagree with more than a few of his opinions. Siegel paraded about the words fraud and hack. I'm not calling you those words, but I'm calling you on them for linking to that article and calling it truth. Note the difference?

I have nothing bad to say about you, nor am I angry.

Re: It's worse than that.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

I do note the difference. I'd like you to note another difference. Disagreeing with someone and "calling someone on it" are two different things, and the second one is picking a fight. You win. I'll take my bloody nose home.

Re: It's worse than that.

[chaptal.livejournal.com]

I agreed to disagree earlier. You called me hostile.