A shared tendency to explain art w/ minimal reference to the art itself
July 23, 2024 12:19 AM Subscribe
It is strange to hear of a subject needing to be restored to the discipline that claims to study it. But it’s characteristic of an age when literary discourse is in flight from the literary, in favor of the personal, the political, or, more often, the consumerist and careerist, in favor of thinking about systems instead of individuals, which is to say writers. At the conjuncture of these tendencies is another set of institutions perpetually said to be in crisis – because of the public’s failure to read enough books; because of questionable business decisions; because of the threat of new technologies to books themselves; or simply because of the rising costs of paper – that is, the publishing industry. from Literature Without Literature by Christian Lorentzen [Granta; ungated]
Great essay. Absolutely fantastic last line (it was William Faulkner for me as a young teenager, Kafka came a little later).
posted by thivaia at 2:16 AM on July 23 [3 favorites]
posted by thivaia at 2:16 AM on July 23 [3 favorites]
This is a really good essay. I disagree with many of its conclusions, and especially the contempt the author holds for sociological reading (I'll assume distant reading is even further down his personal scale). I am sympathetic to the argument that we need to value what moves us, but to make the argument he makes is to pretend that somehow life and literature are equal playing fields for everyone, and that said fact is reflected in and reflects literature. Many contemporary readers, writers, critics, and publishers have been working for years on how to do literature (and culture broadly) when the touchstones and ideals are oh-so-coincidentally shaped primarily around the experiences of elites.
Like, the first sentence of this paragraph is provocative, but the rest of it --
It is strange to hear of a subject needing to be restored to the discipline that claims to study it. But it’s characteristic of an age when literary discourse is in flight from the literary, in favor of the personal, the political, or, more often, the consumerist and careerist, in favor of thinking about systems instead of individuals, which is to say writers. At the conjuncture of these tendencies is another set of institutions perpetually said to be in crisis – because of the public’s failure to read enough books; because of questionable business decisions; because of the threat of new technologies to books themselves; or simply because of the rising costs of paper – that is, the publishing industry.
-- ignores a stampede of elephants in the room. (Of course, I often take a Bourdieusian view of things, so I'm biased toward disagreeing.) That said, the author talks about how literature moves and transforms people, about aesthetic values, about intrinsic merit -- as if all of those things were apart from the specificities of humanity, and as if publishing occurred in an undifferentiated, ahistorical vacuum, and as if somehow the modes of reading and writing he scorns are novel.
Thanks for posting, chavenet. I will probably now go seek out more from this author.
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:37 AM on July 23 [7 favorites]
Like, the first sentence of this paragraph is provocative, but the rest of it --
It is strange to hear of a subject needing to be restored to the discipline that claims to study it. But it’s characteristic of an age when literary discourse is in flight from the literary, in favor of the personal, the political, or, more often, the consumerist and careerist, in favor of thinking about systems instead of individuals, which is to say writers. At the conjuncture of these tendencies is another set of institutions perpetually said to be in crisis – because of the public’s failure to read enough books; because of questionable business decisions; because of the threat of new technologies to books themselves; or simply because of the rising costs of paper – that is, the publishing industry.
-- ignores a stampede of elephants in the room. (Of course, I often take a Bourdieusian view of things, so I'm biased toward disagreeing.) That said, the author talks about how literature moves and transforms people, about aesthetic values, about intrinsic merit -- as if all of those things were apart from the specificities of humanity, and as if publishing occurred in an undifferentiated, ahistorical vacuum, and as if somehow the modes of reading and writing he scorns are novel.
Thanks for posting, chavenet. I will probably now go seek out more from this author.
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:37 AM on July 23 [7 favorites]
I think of the private reading described in the last paragraph of the OP as "reading with your own mind". I find it much more difficult these days (other people's voices in my head) than it used to be.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:20 AM on July 23 [4 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:20 AM on July 23 [4 favorites]
Thanks for posting, chavenet. I will probably now go seek out more from this author.
He's a marvelous book critic. One of my favorites working today.
posted by thivaia at 7:12 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]
He's a marvelous book critic. One of my favorites working today.
posted by thivaia at 7:12 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]
I see I borked the biographical link, so here's Lorentzen's substack
posted by chavenet at 7:36 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 7:36 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]
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At several points I was reminded of the part of the humanities that I’ve worked in. This passage, with emphasis added, in particular: posted by Joeruckus at 2:15 AM on July 23 [3 favorites]