This is the argument made by the critic D.C. Myers. Myers valorizes plot above all else because, in his view, it's a vehicle by which writers convey messages about how and how not to live, or put to the test strategies for doing so. The "greatness," or not, of a writer, then, is for such critics a matter of how well, or poorly, that writer builds a plot, makes it "airtight," and uses it for this purpose. Thus Myers's view, in the cited post, that Wharton's The age of innocence
Going to AWP in Denver? Join us April 9, from 4 'til 6:30, at the Mercury Cafe, for our Tenth Anniversary Cocktail Hour and Reading, featuring 952, 401, and 267. We look forward to seeing you there!
Most authors' websites are either rough on the eyes, filled with PR and no real content, or both. Not this one, from 112 - it's a worth a long look, from both web designers and authors. Nice work, Ravi Rajakumar.
Terese Svoboda's story "Swanbit," which we published last July, has been selected for inclusion in the next edition of Dzanc's Best of the Web. Congratulations, Terese!
That seems to be the basis of Michael Hoffman's argument that we should all stop reading Zweig's work. Though he adds, by way of buttressing his case, that Zweig was a shameless fame-hound and suckup, and among Zweig's contemporaries, those whom we (presumably) most admire, including Thomas Mann, found Zweig's work saccharine and pedestrian both.
It's been a while since I was an editor at a traditional print publisher, and whenever I talk to friends who still work in that world, or read about it, I marvel at how little has changed. I'm not usually surprised, per se - continuity, for many of these folks, including the people who run most houses, is one of the selling points of print publishing. But occasionally I do happen on some bit of trivia that's smack-me-in-the-face stunning.
