"Ain't it awful", round 91,988,498,295 and counting

The lady herself, with pooch, from back when the silly fight was about independent bookstores
Ann Patchett takes down stupid op-ed written by David Brooks declaring literary fiction is dead: Watch it here.

How arrogant this all is. Because "literary fiction" is (though the efforts to effect change in the idea are visible), as a definition, pretty bloody elitist, racist, sexist, homophobic, or succinctly "exclusionary." Whining that "the literary fiction world is weak now," Mr. Brooks, just shows how *awful* your definition of strong is. He cites as examples of strong literary fiction writers some truly dreadful human beings. Whose work, I'll admit, I've read and enjoyed...but they as people were vile, misogynistic homophobic (ironically citing two queer authors as strong creators, but both Capote and Vidal were NOT role models) drunkards (the Dick Cavett debacle, over 20min of ridiculous juvenile dick-measuring...but funny zingers there are) without a single shred of honor among them (Mailer's stabbing of his second wife, Capote's mistreatment of Harper Lee).

"I don't like modern books" is the burden of this refrain. Then don't read them, there are literally tens of thousands of "classics" you haven't read yet...and no one has read them all, the project would take many lifetimes. Translations of "strong" GrecoRoman slave-owning woman-hating men ought to be regressive enough for you; but oh wait, all those manly men fucked boys (literal boys, it was part of a man's sexual privilege) and girls so now what, Mr."Ignore the Epstein Files" Brooks? Mentioning context is too woke for him (unless it's context he agrees with).

But no matter what, books come out because people read them, and that ought to be grounds for warbles of delight. I'm trying hard not to add to the decrying of work *I* don't care for as "inferior" or lesser; it's got craft flaws...fair game to point out; or it's just not something I like, which I try to habitually acknowledge as a me thing; or it's aimed at people who aren't me, which...fair enough, not everything should be.

There are times when my huge reading-list, sixtyish years in the making, does equip me to say "this just isn't good." But guess what? I think a long time before I pull rank like that. I wish Mr. Brooks had done as much.