He supports his assertion that “most acclaimed contemporary prose is the product of mediocre writers availing themselves of trendy stylistic gimmicks” with ample textual evidence and dry wit, making his critique an enduring gem.
I first encountered a version of it in the July/August 2001 The Atlantic—a protracted article that set off a literary firestorm, recounted in Myers’ paperback edition with dark humor. That conflagration grew from his disrespecting and dissecting the works of noted and highly awarded novelists such as Cormac McCarthy, Don DeLillo and Annie Proulx—winners of National Book Awards and such—with cogent literary analysis, historic comparison and delightful irony.
“Our ‘literary’ writers aren’t expected to evince much in the way of brain power,” writes Myers. “It is the departure from natural speech that counts, not what, if anything, is being arrived at.”
He goes on to cite opaque, overwritten prose taken from award-winning novels—not randomly, but from passages praised in reviews in The New York Times, The New Yorker and elsewhere.
Thus Myers’ argument is not so much with these writers of inferior but praised prose, but with the Literary Industrial Complex—comprised of powerful reviewers, mainstream publishers, and literarily-correct academia—that foists second-rate work on the public. However, that officially disparaged public (Myers documents this as well) has been wise enough to reject it. “[The] cultural establishment…has done more to discourage reading than all the TV networks put together,” notes Myers. “Even a nation brainwashed to equate artsiness with art knows when its eyelids are drooping.”
The book’s appendix, “Ten Rules for Serious Writers” should be required reading in fiction workshops across the land. There Myers shows how to Be Writerly, Sprawl, Equivocate, Mystify, Keep Sentences Long, Repeat Yourself, Pile on the Imagery, Archaize, Bore and Play the Part—that is, take yourself way too seriously.
In A Reader’s Manifesto he documents the literary establishment taking itself seriously, much to the detriment of our culture, when it should be serious about supporting superior and honest prose that delights us, moves us and endures.
One reason I write my blog is to tell other readers about books I think worthy. Likewise, I’m always looking for books I might enjoy and want to write about. If you have a book to recommend, please consider noting it here, perhaps also telling what you liked about it.
“A Reader’s Manifesto:” Must-reading for readers and writers alike
by Rick Skwiot on December 29, 2010 · 0 comments
in Books,Literary Commentary
Even after ten years, B.R. Myers’ stirring treatise A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose remains a joy to read and an inspiration to write clear, euphonic fiction.
He supports his assertion that “most acclaimed contemporary prose is the product of mediocre writers availing themselves of trendy stylistic gimmicks” with ample textual evidence and dry wit, making his critique an enduring gem.
I first encountered a version of it in the July/August 2001 The Atlantic—a protracted article that set off a literary firestorm, recounted in Myers’ paperback edition with dark humor. That conflagration grew from his disrespecting and dissecting the works of noted and highly awarded novelists such as Cormac McCarthy, Don DeLillo and Annie Proulx—winners of National Book Awards and such—with cogent literary analysis, historic comparison and delightful irony.
“Our ‘literary’ writers aren’t expected to evince much in the way of brain power,” writes Myers. “It is the departure from natural speech that counts, not what, if anything, is being arrived at.”
He goes on to cite opaque, overwritten prose taken from award-winning novels—not randomly, but from passages praised in reviews in The New York Times, The New Yorker and elsewhere.
Thus Myers’ argument is not so much with these writers of inferior but praised prose, but with the Literary Industrial Complex—comprised of powerful reviewers, mainstream publishers, and literarily-correct academia—that foists second-rate work on the public. However, that officially disparaged public (Myers documents this as well) has been wise enough to reject it. “[The] cultural establishment…has done more to discourage reading than all the TV networks put together,” notes Myers. “Even a nation brainwashed to equate artsiness with art knows when its eyelids are drooping.”
The book’s appendix, “Ten Rules for Serious Writers” should be required reading in fiction workshops across the land. There Myers shows how to Be Writerly, Sprawl, Equivocate, Mystify, Keep Sentences Long, Repeat Yourself, Pile on the Imagery, Archaize, Bore and Play the Part—that is, take yourself way too seriously.
In A Reader’s Manifesto he documents the literary establishment taking itself seriously, much to the detriment of our culture, when it should be serious about supporting superior and honest prose that delights us, moves us and endures.
Tagged as: annie proulx, b.r.myers, book reviews, cormac mccarthy, don delillo, literary criticism, literature