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News & ArtsTuesday, October 27, 2009
Books Today in Disappointing Authors
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Roth has long been pessimistic about the survival of the novel in a gaudy, short-attention-span culture, but his latest prophesy is one of his bleakest yet, predicting that the form will dwindle to a “cultic” minority enthusiasm within 25 years.The author believes that the concentration and focus required to read a novel is becoming less and less prevalent, as potential readers turn instead to computers or to television. “I was being optimistic about 25 years really."
To me, this smacks of old-mannishness, and it's a little disappointing to see Roth fall into the trap of blaming the kids these days with their internets and pr0n with destroying a thousand-year-old literary form. Meanwhile, on the trashy side of the bookshelf, Anne Rice is ashamed that she wasted her youth writing vampire books now that she's found Jesus:
“Being on the side of the angels, it feels much better than being on the side of the vampires. Vampires were tortured, tragic figures,” Rice told the Wall Street Journal. Her novel, Angel Time: The Songs of the Seraphim, follows the adventures of Toby O’Dare, an American killer who is given the chance by a mysterious stranger (who turns out to be an angel) to go back to 13th century England to find salvation.
Oh, Anne. Your new book sounds atrocious. All we want is a little bit of fang, a lace-up shirt with poofy sleeves, and some hot sex scenes. Is that so much to ask?
1
Oh, Anne Rice. You *maybe* had 3 or 4 good books in all of those countless ridiculous novels that you wrote.
2
The Anne Rice Formula: Make your fortune on romanticized "decadence," beg for forgiveness, live the rest of your rich, comfortable life tut-tutting at the people wringing a tiny bit of enjoyment from the trash that made you rich.
Angels? Vampires are more plausible.
Angels? Vampires are more plausible.
3
"The author believes that the concentration and focus required to read a novel is becoming less and less prevalent..."
Um, huh? A novel is one of the easiest forms of literature to read, which is why they are sold at the checkout stand. It's often little more than a textual representation of a common story seen on TV or in the movies. Folks can still follow those!
The real threat is that declining scholastic standards and the rise of instant messaging linguistic shortcuts will result in a populace that can't read literature at all, novel, textbook or biography.
Um, huh? A novel is one of the easiest forms of literature to read, which is why they are sold at the checkout stand. It's often little more than a textual representation of a common story seen on TV or in the movies. Folks can still follow those!
The real threat is that declining scholastic standards and the rise of instant messaging linguistic shortcuts will result in a populace that can't read literature at all, novel, textbook or biography.
4
A thousand-year-old literary form? More like twice that, at least. Petronius, Apuleius and Chariton survived with a much smaller readership that anything Roth is wringing his hands about.
5
So she regrets the vampire novels but not the bondage and other ones she penned?
Um, ok. Guess that means the Beauty series is her fave.
Um, ok. Guess that means the Beauty series is her fave.
8
"The Tale of Genji" is an interesting artifact, but for all practical purposes the novel starts variously with Defoe, after some interesting experiments by Rabelais and Cervantes, and reaches its apotheosis with Fielding and Laurence Sterne about 250-300 years ago.
Roth has the date wrong; the novel is ALREADY a cultic minority enthusiasm, and has been since 1985 or thereabouts. Aside from genre fiction, and even that has a limited lifetime left, and will be written exclusively by robots within a decade or two (some of it already appears to be). Anne Rice falls squarely in that category, before and after.
What Roth really gets wrong, though, is his identification of culture with fiction. Fiction has only ever been a tiny sliver of what matters in the business of putting stuff in books. There are dozens of categories -- history, for instance -- that are producing their best-ever work today.
Roth has the date wrong; the novel is ALREADY a cultic minority enthusiasm, and has been since 1985 or thereabouts. Aside from genre fiction, and even that has a limited lifetime left, and will be written exclusively by robots within a decade or two (some of it already appears to be). Anne Rice falls squarely in that category, before and after.
What Roth really gets wrong, though, is his identification of culture with fiction. Fiction has only ever been a tiny sliver of what matters in the business of putting stuff in books. There are dozens of categories -- history, for instance -- that are producing their best-ever work today.
9
Holy Christ. Old age does bad things to people. Anne Rice's explanation of her return to Christianity (see Wikipedia) is mind-boggling, almost literally. All those biblical contradictions and inconsistencies? That's God's problem, not hers. She couldn't have turned her brain off any more effectively had she lopped it off with a guillotine. How can a society function with any kind of effectiveness when great swaths of humanity just submit to imaginary authority without any critical analysis? Unfuckingbelievable.
10
What sort of literary philistine partners Philip Roth with Anne Rice in the same blog? For shame.
"Being on the side of the angel..." my ass. Is it just me or do the biggest egotists seem to be Christian? Seriously, I have yet to meet a self proclaimed Christian who doesn't act as if they're the center of the universe. Where's the friggin' humility? Final question: has Rice taken a vow of poverty and donated away all that vampire generated cash?
"Being on the side of the angel..." my ass. Is it just me or do the biggest egotists seem to be Christian? Seriously, I have yet to meet a self proclaimed Christian who doesn't act as if they're the center of the universe. Where's the friggin' humility? Final question: has Rice taken a vow of poverty and donated away all that vampire generated cash?
12
I've read with pleasure at least a half-dozen Anne Rice novels, and re-read some, but every time I see her interviewed she seems loonier than the last time. Too bad.
13
Roth is obviously wrong. I mean, the novel is like the newspaper and the magazine, certain to be around for centuries to come.
I'm not sure he's that far off the mark.
I'm not sure he's that far off the mark.
15
I have tried various forms of entertainment at one time or another, but I have always come back to my first love - reading books. For me, nothing will ever take the place of a good novel, but Roth could be right, insofar that reading itself becomes passe.
16
This reminds me of 18th century authors going on about the death of the novel and how newspapers would cease to exist.
18
I don't know about that. I love reading books, I love the smell of a new book, the feel of it, and the crisp sound of the pages under my finger tips and the cracking spine...maybe I'm just a minority though. Books make me giddy and happy in a way nothing else can.
As for Anne Rice: no. Just say no.
As for Anne Rice: no. Just say no.
19
The "concentration and focus to read a novel"? What the hell? What does "a novel" mean to Roth, in 50 words or fewer. How does he operationalize focus and concentration? Bad thinking, Roth. You are a crusted old curmudgeon and snotty to boot. I am sick of this kind of comment with NO ACCOMPANYING EVIDENCE. How can he or anyone know what levels of concentration and focus are prevalent. . . right. He can't. What a gas bag.
20
Fiction writers are sometimes unaware that assertions need to be based on something other than pique.
21
"So she regrets the vampire novels but not the bondage and other ones she penned?"
I think she had another pen name for them, so that "doesn't count".
I think she had another pen name for them, so that "doesn't count".
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