Thank you. Of all the things I was surprised to see printed, that was perhaps the most surprising. Why do we accept this sort of things from authors so readily?
I think I know what you mean -- in fact, I think I have like 200 words written on it in a file somewhere -- but could you expand on what you mean by "this sort of thing" specifically?
Like if someone who wasn’t a novelist had written that it would have been obvious to editors etc that it’s an empirical question that we can’t answer. But if an author says it they feel like it’s less questionable.
I do think that “writers” in general get leave to say all sorts of empirically refutable stuff — and like, it’s one thing to let people do this in their autofiction or their personal essays about their domestic lives etc, fine, but not in potentially policy-related op eds!
I really liked this, especially this bit:
"Chiang’s second argument is that “any writing that deserves your attention as a reader is the result of effort expended by the person who wrote it.”
We just don’t know if this is true."
Perfectly said!
Thank you. Of all the things I was surprised to see printed, that was perhaps the most surprising. Why do we accept this sort of things from authors so readily?
I think I know what you mean -- in fact, I think I have like 200 words written on it in a file somewhere -- but could you expand on what you mean by "this sort of thing" specifically?
Like if someone who wasn’t a novelist had written that it would have been obvious to editors etc that it’s an empirical question that we can’t answer. But if an author says it they feel like it’s less questionable.
I do think that “writers” in general get leave to say all sorts of empirically refutable stuff — and like, it’s one thing to let people do this in their autofiction or their personal essays about their domestic lives etc, fine, but not in potentially policy-related op eds!
Yep totally. And for the New Yorker to let it go is pretty silly imo. Also … it’s not that hard to pay attention to it!
NYEr is a rag, time to admit it. the various “RBs” are the only serious publications left.