11 Comments
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John Kirsch's avatar

Agreed. There really is a strong prohibition against directness, engagement and emotion in writing today.

It all strikes me as very timid and safe, this detachment that turns its back on the world.

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Artie Niederhoffer's avatar

Exactly, thank you.

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Victoria Niederhoffer's avatar

Brilliant!!

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Artie Niederhoffer's avatar

Thank you 😁

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Merlin's avatar

So insane to see how the Nytimes turned on him over the course of 13 years. I guess he wasn’t in love enough with 1950s America!

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Artie Niederhoffer's avatar

I thought was quite fascinating too 👀

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Roger Longman's avatar

Excellent piece. I do however think there are plenty of pretty darn direct writers — Philip Roth, for example, in The Plot Against America (rather relevant today). But Roth’s directness never (rarely?) flattened his characters, whose 3-dimensionality was etched with tremendous subtlety.

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Artie Niederhoffer's avatar

That's interesting, Robo. I guess Steinbeck's characters might be a little flat/archetypical, but it doesn't bother me. I think it's effective. I will check out Plot Against America, though. Merlin loves that book, too.

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Susan Niederhoffer's avatar

True!

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Rand Niederhoffer's avatar

So true about the great gatsby and the parties that stem from it!

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Artie Niederhoffer's avatar

Thank you, yes haha. I find that a bit ironic.

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