Hello. I do not know you, but I read your column in the Argus the other day, but some parts made me feel very disgusted and contemplative, which I guess is every writer’s wet dream. You spent a lot of time rambling about Jonathan Safran Foer, but it is too bad that we can’t take your opinions that seriously, cuz as you admit, you haven’t read either of his books. I can only roll my eyes at your assumption that “Everything is Illuminated” is the kind of book that would “make [you] feel warm inside.” Liz, you are an English major, please read books before you automatically assume what they’ll make you feel.
Because your article was, as you admitted, so rambling and disorganized, it was difficult to follow exactly what your argument was. You seem to think there is something wrong with writers tackling “huge” subjects such as the Holocaust and 9/11. You imply, by constantly referring to Foer’s one million advance for Extremely Loud, that he is making money off by writing an fictional, hence “inauthentic” account of 9/11. Maybe it is personal literary taste, but what’s wrong with writers addressing tragic events? Umm, they can’t all write about Mom and Dad’s midlife crisis in the suburbs, can they? And what’s wrong with taking a fictional, magical realist spin on 9/11 the way Foer does in “Extremely Loud?” (not that you would know). Human experience is impossible to capture in art anyway, let alone the magnitude of tragic events.
There is probably already a lot of bad Holocaust and 9/11 literature out there. But why bitch about Foer choosing 9/11 as a topic? If it’s an excellent, talented writer who’s writing about a tragic event, then that should be cause for celebration. And as you do not know because you have not read his books, Foer is extremely excellent and incredibly good. I have read book reviews by critics who, suffering from the same throes of jealousy as yourself, can’t get past the fact that Foer is young, a Princeton graduate, and getting such an easy, ‘free’ ride in the literary world. All right. Can’t we just concentrate on the quality of the writing? Can’t we just be grateful for this original and hilarious talent in a sea of Danielle Steeles?
Next time I think you should actually read somebody’s books before thinking you know what you’re talking about. Maybe then you would have a more focused article, and people might occasionally consider reading what you have to say more often.
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