23rd
Susan Steinberg - What Happened to Experimental Writing?
This article makes me remember what I like about writing.
Elizabeth Minkel, “George Saunders and the Question of Greatness.”
Here’s what makes me bananas about essays like this:
One of the reasons I walked away from fiction writing after I finished my MFA was because while I still cared about writing the best fiction that I could, I was SO fucking sick and tired of worrying about achievements, about pinnacles, about the Best American Whatever.
And I’m not going to lie: It felt really, really good to not care about all of that anymore.
Then, like many aspiring fictioneers of the early 21st, like the author of this piece, I read “Sea Oak.” I took note of voice, that aspect of craft that’s basically the Force, right?
And I thought: “Holy shit, this guy is having a GOOD TIME.”
Then I thought: “I WANT TO HAVE FUN, TOO.”
And I was back, for good. Thanks, George Saunders, the other writers you led me to, massively multiplayer online roleplaying games, and thousands of other little dumb things that conspired to pull it all back together.
So even though it’s not really fair, like, AT ALL? Even though I know that critical discussion of literary work and its context is important? Pieces like this, like that Gawker one, they just make me want to shout gibberish at my monitor…and then head down to Rite Aid to see if any of the cashiers look like Bernie. (I already know there’s one at CVS that does.)
YES I WANT TO HAVE FUN TOO!!
(via embfitz)
The paint continues.
They’re cooler in person.
Mary’s making paintings for “Red,” playing in NoVA. I want to see it!
I also want to buy one of those paintings from her!