2008/06/10 Neptun-Olimp
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Scratch

Dangers

Today during this writer’s conference I was supposed to say something about the future of literature.
As a polite person that’s exactly what I did.
But thanks to a friend in New York with whom I had a lengthy discussion about this topic I added a few sentences about scratching your back: “Many things have already been said about the dangers from outside, let me say a few things about the dangers from inside.
The biggest threat to literature is the I-scratch-your-back, you-scratch-my-back culture, which leads to criticism as an extension of networking with other means, it kills serious discussion, it views politeness as a strategic asset, it confuses friendship with wrong judgment and it will at the end make us as corrupt as politics in Afghanistan.” Of course sometimes corruption is defensible, maybe even more than that.


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13 comments Last_comment
Maybe writers should then should opt for solitude and work in silence (difficult nowadays in a commercialised media landscape).
Not only a danger to literature but also to integrity when everything and everybody is always ‘connected’.
said Jan Thys 10/06/2008 08:33 • x
On the other hand, the commercial media prosper by exaggerating disputes between people, in this case writers (sometimes unnecessary disputes).
It is dangerous to abstain from the media, but it is even more dangerous to accept theirs gifts.
(to refer to an old quote)
said Jan Thys 10/06/2008 08:51 • x
someone said to me: if you are over 30 and you think you have more that 10 good friends, that means you're counting colleagues as well. i think a lot of writers would perform better if they didn't hang out so much with other writers
said Ivo Victoria 10/06/2008 09:54 • x
comfortzone
Every group has it own culture and there's always the danger of losing uniqueness.
Sometimes, breaking out of the comfortzone, is necessary to see yourself again.
said Mark Thuis 10/06/2008 09:56 (Updated 09:57) • x
Have you read that one book of that one literary scientist about the downfall of literature since 1700?
said Dens Powells 10/06/2008 12:09 • x
@ Noa
I don't mean to scratch your back but i think your mai/june story is outstanding.
said Pablo Del Pueblo 10/06/2008 12:54 • x
@ Ivo
Do you hang out a lot with other writer?
I loved the way you lured six publishers into a fight over your first, still to be written, novel.
said Mieke Dutoit 10/06/2008 13:05 • x
@ Jan
Can you give an example of such an exaggerated dispute between people?
said Pablo Del Pueblo 10/06/2008 13:17 • x
@Pablo - I sincerely thank you. Writers need a friendly reader as much as we need a critical friend.
said noa fenenga 10/06/2008 13:42 • x
@Pablo
Grunberg and A.F.Th (I have never read so much about them in the newspapers).
said Jan Thys 10/06/2008 18:20 • x
Another problem is that nowadays everybody can publish; the bookstores are filled with books of cooks, cleaningladies, and so on.
said Vera M. 10/06/2008 22:49 • x
Jan
Don't most disputes seem exaggerated given time and distance. But I wouldn't go so far as to call them - any dispute? - unnecessary, since they're definately an expression of inner itches.
said Pablo Del Pueblo 11/06/2008 09:53 • x
Lately I read an old interview from Tel-Aviv magazine with Iri Rikin, a man I love who happen to be a literary critic and he says over there that he prefers reading non-Israeli writers, preferably dead ones, because he doesn't want to hurt anybody.As a rule he tries to write good things. "It is easier to be evil than good" he says, "In a lanuage there are much more words to describe bad things than good ones".
I have friends who write terribly and friends who write wonderfully. I give my sincere opinion to each, but as Iri says, "it's a funny job, you get paid to write down what you're thinking and someone else will read it and might think the same". 'Might'.
said Neria Biala 12/06/2008 12:33 • x
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