Laura Miller rails against the first person plural. Of course, I did too back in January, which may make the NYTBR officially three months behind blogs. Then again, if they're going to refer to cyberpunk as "the bratty offspring of science fiction," while failing to mention The Diamond Age's influence (particularly with its thoughts on nanotechnology, storytelling and advertising) or give credence to fruitloop Richard Pipes, then perhaps they're not as sui generis as they think. Then again, they do have Choire again this week.
Posted by DrMabuse at April 17, 2004 12:25 AMOkay everyone or anyone,explain this to me given Laura Miller's track record of infuriating and disingenious clattering, why do people who find her so keep reading her?
It's kind of like reading Dale Peck and complaining that Dale has not written a measured and respectful critique about who or whatever he is lambasting at the moment. Or complaining that David Brooks or Andrew Sullivan has written something that goes beyond pretzel logic. What could one expect?
Posted by: birnbaum at April 17, 2004 08:50 AMThe thing is, she used to be good. Or at least I thought so several years ago. I keep reading in the hopes of seeing that again.
Posted by: Maud at April 19, 2004 08:55 AMWhat Maud said. Some months ago, as I recall, the Hag put it something like this: Laura Miller is that cool hep friend you knew back in high school who developed into that insufferable bore. I guess the fact that we're all very patient with Miller (to the point that we've been reading her drivel for some years now) indicates just how optimistic we are to see Miller return to previous pastures. She used to be the person who championed lesser known titles and singled out authors like Richard Powers. Now she has a wasp permanently lodged up her butt. One can only hope that Tanenhaus will call in a colonic specialist.
Posted by: Ed at April 19, 2004 09:10 AM