... Should Literary Novels Be More Like The Wire? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I have no idea. I've never seen The Wire, and probably never will. (This is not snobbery. I dropped my HBO subscription years ago and doubt if I will ever subscribe again. I just don't spend enough time watching television to care.)
This argument is silly.
ReplyDeleteIf a novel says something real, gets to a reader on a visceral level and touches them in some genuine way, what difference the subject matter?
What about a show like MAD MEN, which would fall under Neyfakh's category of work that focuses "on the tribulations of individual characters while ignoring the societal pressures that determine those characters’ lives"? The character study of Don Draper, supported by a wealth of other riveting characters in existential crises, is every bit as good as THE WIRE (if not better, IMHO).
I won't even continue my argument. This is just, as I said, silly.
-G
How dare you challenge the inflexible genius of Walter Benn Michaels! Surely, if you don't live by his prescriptive formula in the same manner that so many self-important New York sheep cling to his every word without question, then you can't POSSIBLY have a valid viewpoint on literature!
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