Le Guin at National Book Awards

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by taustin

Not an uncommon experience with Rand. Though many would substitute "embarrassed" for "horrified."

Yes, that too.

[Greg Anos]

Merely pointing out they were political (not commenting on the content of the politics)

Agree with George Orwell...

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Ayn Rand?

The dramatization was totally failed. At least for the book I tried to read (Atlas Shrugged). So not an example at all of the skill to write good books combined with political ideas.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by tompe

The dramatization was totally failed. At least for the book I tried to read (Atlas Shrugged). So not an example at all of the skill to write good books combined with political ideas.

How dare you dismiss Ayn Rand!

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I took Le Guin's comment as that she laments how books have become dollar store items.

Or supposedly interchangeable commodities, rather than individual works of art.

Yeah, I thought that line was OK.

Also, I don't Godwin's Law can be extended to mean that any hyperbole or metaphor involving a larger socio-political evil is an automatic fail.

I see nothing wrong with the passages called out in this thread so far.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ApK

Also, I don't Godwin's Law can be extended to mean that any hyperbole or metaphor involving a larger socio-political evil is an automatic fail.

Except that "larger socio-political evil" is not often a definitive thing that can be pointed as being objectively "evil." So people who pretend it IS a definitive thing end up sounding silly.

Is an industry in flux an evil thing to be railed against?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Except that "larger socio-political evil" is not often a definitive thing that can be pointed as being objectively "evil." So people who pretend it IS a definitive thing end up sounding silly.

Is an industry in flux an evil thing to be railed against?

The people making decisions in an "industry in flux" can make fair, logical decisions, showing consideration and respect for the people the decisions effect, or they can make ruthless, greedy, self-serving decisions.
I think her point is to communicate that she feels like the latter is happening, and I see a valid approach to associating the former with 'good' and the latter with 'evil.' It's a writer's job to evoke those broader emotional associations, isn't it?

As for it being subjective. I dunno, I think most people won't confuse which she thinks is which.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ApK

It's a writer's job to evoke those broader emotional associations, isn't it?

I don't have a problem with people wanting to believe that's a writer's job, but no, that's not the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of "writer's job." What kind of writer?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I don't have a problem with people wanting to believe that's a writer's job, but no, that's not the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of "writer's job." What kind of writer?

OK, part of any artist's job.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ApK

OK, part of any artist's job.

I don't consider "writer" as being synonymous with "artist." The two are neither exclusionary or inclusive of each other. Regardless ... I don't consider anything she attempted to say as being evocative of anything other than; "I miss the good old days." "And oh yeah... fatwa."

[taustin]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

How dare you dismiss Ayn Rand!

It is OK to have never been interested in the first place, because the blurb on the back cover didn't describe anything I was interested in?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by taustin

It is OK to have never been interested in the first place, because the blurb on the back cover didn't describe anything I was interested in?

Actually, it's OK to feel any way you want about it. I don't care for Rand either. I just got a chuckle out of the dismissal of an author by someone who was miffed about the dismissal of an author.

[Nabeel]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Dickens' Tale of Two Cities. This is one I really should read but never have.

Arthur Koestler.

And a boatload of Soviet dissedent writers from Solzhenitsyn on down. I used to read them with fascination when the Soviet Union existed, but lost some interest when the novels become purely, or mostly, of historical interest.

'A Tale of Two Cities' is damn near unreadable.

But then I think Dickens is almost as bad as Shakespeare who - as everyone ought to know - could not write dialogue.

[murg]

Originally Posted by Nabeel

But then I think Dickens is almost as bad as Shakespeare who - as everyone ought to know - could not write dialogue.

Nor Balcony scenes...

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murg

Nor Balcony scenes...

Shhhh...
We're not supposed to know that was a Victorian addition.