Nieuws: Ondertussen online: Franse literaire prijzen en book blogging

Heeft Frankrijk meer literaire prijzen dan literaire boeken? Er is in ieder geval nu een manier om ze beter bij te houden, met het weblog van Juan Arias, blog.prix-litteraires.info.

Zijn weblogs de toekomst van de literaire kritiek? Het is een vraag die regelmatig opduikt, vooral, toegegeven, op internet zelf. Zelden gaat het echter zo grondig als bij het 'symposium' The Function of Book Blogging at the Present, dat de mannen achter A Commonplace Blog en Anecdotal Evidence, van literatuurwetenschapper en criticus D.G. Myers en criticus Patrick Kurp, organiseerden. Aan de hand van vragen als 'How does book blogging differ from print counterparts such as book reviews?', 'How do you respond to this statement?: Blogging is just another hobby, like stamp collecting or hockey.' en 'What about the sometimes vicious nature of the beast?--the ad hominem attacks, and the widespread tendency to confuse harsh disagreement with such ad hominem attacks.' vertelt een select gezelschap van bloggers over het fenomeen. In afleveringen: 

1. Elberry (Elberry's Ghost): 'Blogging probably is largely recreational – I can't imagine anyone doing it if they didn't want to. But in the hands of an accomplished writer it must become something more. Language involves us as stamps do not.'
2. Mark Athitakis (American Fiction Notes): '... columns [in newspapers] are largely surplus information—interesting tidbits, but really only intended for the true aficionado of the particular subject. Book blogs often behave in a similar way.'
3. Michael Gilleland (Laudator Temporis Acti), 'One could make the case that blogging, i.e. rushing into print, is bad for one’s style. Horace (Ars Poetica 388-9) recommended that writers postpone publication for nine years. Nevertheless, the discipline of writing something every day is salutary.'
4. Benjamin Stein (Turmsegler), As long as it is insightful and disciplined: 'I wanted to “remember and discover” (that’s the blog’s motto), wanted to immerse myself in literature again—as in a mikveh.'
5. Frank Wilson (Books, Inq. - The Epilogue): 'I think of book blogging as just another technological extension of literary journalism. Were Sainte-Beuve alive today, I suspect he would easily adapt to blogging. In fact, book blogging seems to me to have restored to literary journalism a good deal of the passion and immediacy that had long been missing from it.'
6. Miriam Burstein (The Little Professor), It is still possible to be a respected blogger: '... instead of blogging about what has been assigned or sent to you—I do get review copies occasionally, but not that many—you can blog about whatever interests you.'
7. Terry Teachout (About last night): 'To blog is to become a public figure. Ad hominem attacks go with the territory. If you can’t stand the flames, log off.'
8. Brad Bigelow(The Neglected Books Page), In mankind’s largest agora: 'Before the Internet, it took a significant effort to express one’s views to more than a handful of people. In the case of my interest in neglected books, I pretty much kept it to myself.'
9. Ron Slate (On the Seawall): 'Book blogging is more various in its objectives and interests, and includes book reviewing. It tends to be more reflective, conversational, and often ephemeral or vaporous.'
10. Nigel Beale (Nota Bene Books), Blogging is a way of life: 'For the most part I have enjoyed disagreeing with commenters on my site and at others. Argument and counter-argument is what literary criticism is all about.'
11. Levi Stahl (I'vebeenreadinglately): 'One thing that unites all the writers I cited as models—while simultaneously setting them apart from the generic concept of “book review,” however many of those they may have written—is the aforementioned enthusiasm. All approach books as lovers of books: they’re critical, but they never forget why we bother being critical in the first place.'
12. James Marcus (House of Mirth), Blogging is still on the nipple: 'It is tempting to see essayists as proto-bloggers, since they anticipate the waywardness and freedom and occasional narcissism of the form. [...] The other non-electronic precursors would be the diary and commonplace book. But really, blogging is something different. I think it’s more defined by its universal accessibility than by any specific style.'
13. Patrick Kurp (Anecdotal Evidence): 'Blogging has moved me to reapply my own standards more rigorously. A blogger is a writer and a writer's only obligation is to write well.'
14. D.G. Myers (A Commonplace Blog), Summing Up: '...what is needed are more book bloggers for whom the stakes are high and for whom personal dignity and reputation take a back seat to the advancement of literature. And this would require book bloggers who are committed to argument-who are sworn to defend the books they cherish from those who would make a hash of them, who understand that the literary heritage can be lost, as most of Sappho's poetry was lost, when it ceases to be valued.'

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