|
Genre, with its conventions and nerd culture isn't that far removed from lit authors, or aspiring lit authors with their difficult interviews and literary festivals where they read an extract and answer questions from lower-tier aspiring authors and middle-aged people fawning over their intellectual insight. Insight that would be out hit by a first year post-grad in a political or social science PhD, but without the cult of personality around them. For a huge amount of authors the reality is their lifestyle won't be supported by royalties (unless they're dead) and teaching, the festival circuit and in some cases workshops costing megabucks all support both their cost of living, and their image. This isn't necessarily true for the high end of literature, but if you're talking about the jobbing writer, who's featured in famous lit mags, is publicising their book, and trying to build a bigger name in the literary culture there's just as much pandering to meet-the-author/have their wisdom rub off consumption bollocksology as anything else. I've had plenty of conversations with people (poets and authors) who seem to live for their workshops with a published author, or the monastic retreat that their author-du-jour wrote a paragraph of their book at after winning a competition, and made sure to praise it in as many places as they could. I'm not talking about stories that will last the ages here, but if you're trying to play the literary game and get anywhere, the resemblance to a pyramid scheme where you have to pay your dues and get that first level of fandom/fawning before you can rise the ranks is definitely evident. There's as much conspicuous consumption as anything else with godheads and plebs.
|
#
¿
Jul 19, 2017 12:53
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 22, 2024 14:03 |
|
|
https://twitter.com/LibraryComic/status/887698182251171840
|
|
#
¿
Jul 19, 2017 16:42
|
|