Great article. For what it’s worth I started a men’s book club with a membership drawn from my very competitive, somewhat frat-ish tennis team. All literary fiction, mix of classics and contemporary fiction. I was surprised at the demand - I filled the book club in ten minutes and we have a bunch of guys who want to join. It did help that I pitched it as a very male activity-we will drink and we argue! We have a friendly rivalry with some women’s book clubs. I’m a Gen-x guy, though there are millennials in the group, and I think it eased the way for the guys that I brought a kind of ironic Gen-X machismo to the endeavor.
This line stuck out at me: "Novels shouldn’t be merely entertainment for a thin slice of the leisure class." That's pretty much how novels began; that's who read Fielding, Richardson and Sterne. It wasn't even regarded as a respectable art form at first. But with the growth of literacy and the middle class, the novel moved beyond that audience, and aesthetes started taking it seriously. Maybe we need to return to the beginnings and start the whole cycle again?
A provoking article and ultimately hopeful even as it looks clear eyed at the ruins of literary culture.
While I agree with your point on the intellectual underpinnings of the MAGA movement, but I feel an equal concern at the incoherence of the other side (one hesitates to use terms such as right/left or liberal/conservative any more). There is a kind of madness in hearing things like eliminating men increases diversity or that eliminating the police will help people in crime ridden areas or the identitarian need to prejudge every conflict by the identity of the participants (certainly this is a practice on many sides of the political fence) and so on.
My only point in bringing this up is I see in your essay the ability to look beyond the prevailing “narrative” and be self critical enough to see solutions to our malaise. This is the path that leads us from being satisfied that our side is right or better to actually solving problems.
Thank you Ross, this really resonated with me, so few people write honestly about ambition. As a (failed) novelist born 1980 who pivoted to essays and podcasts, I needed to read this.
Agree with your points. To me, Richard powers is at the top of the game as a male writer. In addition to your book, everyone should read The Playground.
I have pre-ordered your book from Tertulia which is a fabulous online bookstore. I am eagerly looking forward to it. I am glad to see you are not personally despairing over the state of male authors. I believe the pendulum has swung too far toward the female perspective in fiction and agree wholeheartedly that MAgA rise in no small part due to the illiteracy of the members of that cult. They mistake a liberal education with a liberal viewpoint and revel in their stupidity. On the subject of male authors, I am reading Playworld now and I am enjoying it. It’s a kind of modern Catcher in the Rye which tells a compelling story in a very appealing style of writing. Anyway, I guess my overall message is keep plugging away. There are people like me who, as the age, enjoy good novels more than I ever did when I was your age. Congrats again on the book. I plan to devour it as soon as it arrives in my mailbox
I am eager to read Glass Century. I’ll try to order it through Amazon to Argentina this year (it’s not an easy task, but it’s getting better). This essay is very helpful to me. I think that your path is precisely the one I am taking: keep writing, keep building. Not quite there yet with the peace of mind, but getting better.
I'm in a fiction-only book club (we break the rule sometimes) with my college roommates, and a female journalist friend said to me, "It's so refreshing to hear about a men's book group that reads fiction." I was surprised. It's too bad: we have much more interesting (though probably less vehement) discussions than if we read about D-Day or vanishing aquifers or whatever.
Coming across your newsletter this week has been a welcome discovery! As a Millennial young woman whose literary fiction taste skews *very* female, I’m looking forward to reading your book!
So much to love in this piece. And true, "a male writer cannot *will* a literary audience into being, not when the readership tends to be college-educated women," as they "may not want to spend hours of their time with male interiority," but as a GenX oldster, I've always felt that DeLillo, Updike, Diaz, and Chabon transcend the whole notion of gendered interiority. The very assignment has always been greater than my own myopic interiority, if that makes sense. In any case, congrats on the launch. Cannot wait to read the book.
“ I believe, shedding the posture of faux humility that today’s elite novelists seem to relish, it is one of the best books published in recent times.” Love that you said this!
reminds me of this wordsworth quote: "Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished."
Deeply honest and thrillingly insightful. This newsletter, and your initiatives generally, give me a lot of inspiration and, frankly, hope. I regret not being able to attend your upcoming event, but eagerly await the arrival of Glass Century!
Chiming in here late to say "thank you" for writing this. I've never aspired to be a novelist but I recognize your mixed feelings here--both desiring to bring back the days of Franzen/DFW and trying to get beyond them, to let that model go. I think this is easier said than done. I would suggest that literary people can probably anticipate what our future looks like by observing other "high" arts forms that declined in prestige. I'm thinking of classical music, opera, classical languages, etc. These forms still exist, but in a much diminished state. True lovers still flock to the opera and study Latin, but surely this is not a fate one would *willingly* choose. It's a form of managed decline as the funding and the audience gradually withers away over time. I see no reason to believe that fiction--which, as you rightly state, concerns interiority--will reverse the course of history. Narrative is now braided with visual "moving pictures" and we'll never go back to the page.
Great article. For what it’s worth I started a men’s book club with a membership drawn from my very competitive, somewhat frat-ish tennis team. All literary fiction, mix of classics and contemporary fiction. I was surprised at the demand - I filled the book club in ten minutes and we have a bunch of guys who want to join. It did help that I pitched it as a very male activity-we will drink and we argue! We have a friendly rivalry with some women’s book clubs. I’m a Gen-x guy, though there are millennials in the group, and I think it eased the way for the guys that I brought a kind of ironic Gen-X machismo to the endeavor.
This line stuck out at me: "Novels shouldn’t be merely entertainment for a thin slice of the leisure class." That's pretty much how novels began; that's who read Fielding, Richardson and Sterne. It wasn't even regarded as a respectable art form at first. But with the growth of literacy and the middle class, the novel moved beyond that audience, and aesthetes started taking it seriously. Maybe we need to return to the beginnings and start the whole cycle again?
Congratulations! I’m bringing friends. Loved this piece. RIP the Litbro? His replacement is much worse.
I recall the Jezebel-style sneering about David Foster Wallace men. More snobbery than substantive culture criticism.
Bring back the Wallace bros
A provoking article and ultimately hopeful even as it looks clear eyed at the ruins of literary culture.
While I agree with your point on the intellectual underpinnings of the MAGA movement, but I feel an equal concern at the incoherence of the other side (one hesitates to use terms such as right/left or liberal/conservative any more). There is a kind of madness in hearing things like eliminating men increases diversity or that eliminating the police will help people in crime ridden areas or the identitarian need to prejudge every conflict by the identity of the participants (certainly this is a practice on many sides of the political fence) and so on.
My only point in bringing this up is I see in your essay the ability to look beyond the prevailing “narrative” and be self critical enough to see solutions to our malaise. This is the path that leads us from being satisfied that our side is right or better to actually solving problems.
Thanks!
Thank you Ross, this really resonated with me, so few people write honestly about ambition. As a (failed) novelist born 1980 who pivoted to essays and podcasts, I needed to read this.
Agree with your points. To me, Richard powers is at the top of the game as a male writer. In addition to your book, everyone should read The Playground.
I have pre-ordered your book from Tertulia which is a fabulous online bookstore. I am eagerly looking forward to it. I am glad to see you are not personally despairing over the state of male authors. I believe the pendulum has swung too far toward the female perspective in fiction and agree wholeheartedly that MAgA rise in no small part due to the illiteracy of the members of that cult. They mistake a liberal education with a liberal viewpoint and revel in their stupidity. On the subject of male authors, I am reading Playworld now and I am enjoying it. It’s a kind of modern Catcher in the Rye which tells a compelling story in a very appealing style of writing. Anyway, I guess my overall message is keep plugging away. There are people like me who, as the age, enjoy good novels more than I ever did when I was your age. Congrats again on the book. I plan to devour it as soon as it arrives in my mailbox
Thank you Richard for ordering!
I am eager to read Glass Century. I’ll try to order it through Amazon to Argentina this year (it’s not an easy task, but it’s getting better). This essay is very helpful to me. I think that your path is precisely the one I am taking: keep writing, keep building. Not quite there yet with the peace of mind, but getting better.
I'm in a fiction-only book club (we break the rule sometimes) with my college roommates, and a female journalist friend said to me, "It's so refreshing to hear about a men's book group that reads fiction." I was surprised. It's too bad: we have much more interesting (though probably less vehement) discussions than if we read about D-Day or vanishing aquifers or whatever.
Coming across your newsletter this week has been a welcome discovery! As a Millennial young woman whose literary fiction taste skews *very* female, I’m looking forward to reading your book!
So much to love in this piece. And true, "a male writer cannot *will* a literary audience into being, not when the readership tends to be college-educated women," as they "may not want to spend hours of their time with male interiority," but as a GenX oldster, I've always felt that DeLillo, Updike, Diaz, and Chabon transcend the whole notion of gendered interiority. The very assignment has always been greater than my own myopic interiority, if that makes sense. In any case, congrats on the launch. Cannot wait to read the book.
Excited to hear you read in Philly at Headhouse Books!
Thank you - looking forward to May 12!
Ross, I really appreciated this whole piece, and related to much of it, even though I am not a white man but rather a hijab-wearing Arab Muslim woman.
Thank you Noha I appreciate that!
I just checked my library for your book and I can’t see it there yet so I’m going to request it! I’d love to read it.
Thank you!
“ I believe, shedding the posture of faux humility that today’s elite novelists seem to relish, it is one of the best books published in recent times.” Love that you said this!
reminds me of this wordsworth quote: "Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished."
Deeply honest and thrillingly insightful. This newsletter, and your initiatives generally, give me a lot of inspiration and, frankly, hope. I regret not being able to attend your upcoming event, but eagerly await the arrival of Glass Century!
Chiming in here late to say "thank you" for writing this. I've never aspired to be a novelist but I recognize your mixed feelings here--both desiring to bring back the days of Franzen/DFW and trying to get beyond them, to let that model go. I think this is easier said than done. I would suggest that literary people can probably anticipate what our future looks like by observing other "high" arts forms that declined in prestige. I'm thinking of classical music, opera, classical languages, etc. These forms still exist, but in a much diminished state. True lovers still flock to the opera and study Latin, but surely this is not a fate one would *willingly* choose. It's a form of managed decline as the funding and the audience gradually withers away over time. I see no reason to believe that fiction--which, as you rightly state, concerns interiority--will reverse the course of history. Narrative is now braided with visual "moving pictures" and we'll never go back to the page.