tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951486642731990675.post8237673047707237173..comments2023-10-02T06:07:30.625-07:00Comments on CONTRA JAMES WOOD: The RestorationistEdmond Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02651618912907453630noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951486642731990675.post-6549264287832794662008-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:002008-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:00Thanks for the link to the Moretti book. Based on ...Thanks for the link to the Moretti book. Based on the excerpts, it looks excellent.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08014014605639738887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951486642731990675.post-65287199543571347582008-11-11T18:29:00.000-08:002008-11-11T18:29:00.000-08:00Hi D.G. Myers.And thanks for the comment. You're ...Hi D.G. Myers.<BR/>And thanks for the comment. You're right, it's a redundancy to call it Establishment Literary Fiction, when Literary Fiction is already just a marketing category. And it's perfect (re: the illuminating etymology in your blog post) that we have the uber-middlebrow Kakutani to blame. I think the one reason that it still might make sense to use ELF, however - and I imagine something like this was behind Thwaite's reasoning - is that since the advent of that term the latest Enrique Vila-Matas or David Markson novel can get lumped in with the rest of the fodder. So ELF is a shorthand way to make that distinction, altho', in the strict sense, it is indeed a redundancy.<BR/><BR/>Thanks, too, for brining your blog to my attention.Edmond Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02651618912907453630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951486642731990675.post-19481202402634701722008-11-11T09:21:00.000-08:002008-11-11T09:21:00.000-08:00Mr Caldwell,A matt-shaking takedown of Wood on Mon...Mr Caldwell,<BR/><BR/>A matt-shaking takedown of Wood on Monica Ali. I especially admire your exhortation, with its trashing of "Establishment Literary Fiction." I realize that you linked the term Mark Thwaite, whose detraction is marvelous to behold; but I wonder if the term isn't redundant. Isn't all "literary fiction" establishment fiction?<BR/><BR/>I have traced the history of the term here:<BR/><BR/>http://dgmyers.blogspot.com/2008/10/literary-fiction.html<BR/><BR/>Keep up the excellent work of holding Wood's feet to the fire!D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.com