Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Book people versus movie people

Now here's an article that makes me want to blog and post comments all day.

"What books people love isn't books; what they love is their own standards, and their fantasies about what literature should be."

Note, though, that the "people" under discussion are not everyday Joes, but professionals, those in the biz.

"American book-world people? A drearier — and much less worldly — bunch. (IMHO, of course.) They're often introverts, as well as sensitive souls who howl in outrage if you dare to crack a joke about their sacred cows. Many like little more than working themselves up into a red-faced paroxysm of indignation about the cruelty of ... of ... well, just about everything, you know? I mean, life, huh? (FWIW, and I don't have wide experience here: the British book-world people I've known have been much more buccaneering and extraverted than American books people, and much more devil-may-care. Much better at parties too, by the way.)"

For the record, I love Bridget Jones, but I can't stand Jane Austen. And I honestly believe that science fiction has way more to tell the world than does most contemporary "literary" fiction.

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