Put to Death the “Death of” Article:
One of the most brilliant articles I’ve read on our reading future in quite a long time.
The technology boosters think of themselves as saviors of a hopelessly
backward humanity, while grim-jawed Luddites are bracing themselves for
an apocalyptic cultural collapse involving “the death of literature”
rather than simply the death of print’s dominance. Both camps in the
Print Wars rely on a similar and false sense of crisis. Human beings
crave and adore absorption in narrative. The delivery mechanism for
thinking entertainment can be pressed into clay, carved in stone,
repeated from memory around a fire, incised on scrolls, illuminated,
printed, typed, Xeroxed, acted out, filmed, animated, YouTubed, Second
Lived, IMed, blogged, or beamed from Earth to Mars and back again on
handheld screens. The problem for short fiction is that novels grab
what’s left over after the movies, cable, and online media.
Yes, yes and more yes. Much to think about as I prepare for an upcoming presentation. Also, who is J.M. Tyree and can I be his new best friend?