Newsweek today posted an article about Jonathan Frazen, author of The Corrections and the very-soon-to-be-released Freedom, that is relevant to the somewhat conflicting opinions I post on this blog. It addresses how a writer’s personal life can get in the way of a critical appreciation of their work. Here’s a snippet:
…the Internet has exposed writers to a level of personal scrutiny formerly reserved for pop stars and teen idols, making it difficult to separate how you feel about an author’s personal life from how you respond to his work, despite your best efforts to read the writing, not the writer.
My last post dealt with disappearing author interviews and how this kind of cultural contribution isn’t valued as much as it should be these days, but I’ve also posted in the past about how the social imperative to learn as much as possible about an author wears down the “writer mystique” and adds minimal value to reading their work.
So which is it? Should writers embrace the age of selfspoitation and present their lives to the world, or should they all pack up and live in an off-the-grid hippie compound?
Honestly, I’m not sure what the answer is. I truly feel that we’re losing something as a culture in not preserving and building upon the decades of progressive literary/cultural debate laid down by earlier writers, and that might mean more camera time for writers like Frazen, who really dislikes making these videos…
But can we blame him? To me, it feels like this game is being forced on some writers, and if they don’t want to play along, it can get ugly. Frazen’s publisher/agent/string-puller should recognize this. If he’s going to go about these videos in a sulking way, he risks turning people off of his books.
While a writer might have something positive to contribute to our culture, I think he or she has to do so willingly and passionately, rather than be subject to popular demands of the time. Yes, author videos are good, but not necessary.
Watching the above video makes me want to give Frazen a hug, if he wasn’t so ornery.
