Robert Birnbaum talks with Martin Amis for the fifth time. Lots of good stuff, including Amis describing how to hit the reader over the head on a character’s race.
RIP Arthur Schlesinger, although turning Barbra Streisand on to The Economist is the least of his achievements.
More silly narcissism charges. I’m beginning to wonder, in light of all these allegations leveled at technology, if complaining about what others do with their lives is itself a form of narcissism. Look, someone else could be an intense Scrabble player and spend all of their spare time talking about it. But I’m not going to call them “narcissistic.” Enthusiastic, maybe. Sometimes so wrapped up in their interests that they sometimes forget to eat, sleep, or socially interact, okay. But it does not follow that these folks think about anything but their own interests. Could it be that the “Narcissism!” hues and cries are a new backlash against geeks? (via Speedy Snail)
Matthew Tiffany on What is the What: “I read a page, two maybe, at night before the words begin to dance and I drool. I haven’t been reading in traffic, or on lunch break. Then I thought that it was the subject matter; not giving me enough of an escape from the everyday. Which is absurd, because Deng in a refugee camp in Ethiopia is pretty damn far from my everyday.”
If in that interview Amis replaced “those feckless lit bloggers” with “5,000 words by a young guy who works at the London Review” ya’ll would be up in arms!
Dude, all due respect, but you don’t understand what they mean by narcissism. Geekiness isn’t narcissim. Obsession with a single thing isn’t narcissism.
Narcissism is essentially over-inflated self-esteem. Do you watch the poker? Howard Ledderer and Phil Helmuth are both obsessed with poker, but only Helmuth is a narcissist. At its most extreme it is very much a personality disorder in that it inhibits the ability of a person to effectively operate in the world.
If in that interview Amis replaced “those feckless lit bloggers” with “5,000 words by a young guy who works at the London Review” ya’ll would be up in arms!
Dude, all due respect, but you don’t understand what they mean by narcissism. Geekiness isn’t narcissim. Obsession with a single thing isn’t narcissism.
Narcissism is essentially over-inflated self-esteem. Do you watch the poker? Howard Ledderer and Phil Helmuth are both obsessed with poker, but only Helmuth is a narcissist. At its most extreme it is very much a personality disorder in that it inhibits the ability of a person to effectively operate in the world.