Pranay Somayajula on personal canon

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Apr 3, 2024

i just stumbled across your newsletter via my substack homepage feed but i LOVE IT! i also read the odd woman and the city last month and i was so charmed by it, vivian gornick is such a brilliant writer!

i was thrilled as well to see the amia srinivasan shoutout—have you read the full book the right to sex? i just listened to this great podcast episode she did about it https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jj7v5XLaFkxCxspUh0Aqo?si=wzUOI6HzQOWWzh56o9Efmg

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I'm so happy you found this newsletter and this post! Vivian Gornick fans unite ❤️ I really loved her recent NYRB piece about Lore Segal and novelists vs memoirists too! https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/02/08/isnt-it-interesting-ladies-lunch-lore-segal/

I read The Right to Sex a few years ago and LOVED it—she's so sharp and insightful as a writer, and full of unexpected arguments. I really liked the chapter on professors sleeping with students and whether it's ethical, since she focuses less on the age gap/power dynamics aspect (which many writers address) and instead focuses on whether a professor pursuing a student can even be an effective educator, to that student and others. Srinivasan's argument is that the professor can't, and is failing in their duty as a teacher by focusing on their romantic/sexual interests over their vocational responsibilities

I'll listen to the podcast you shared, tysm!

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omg amazing, i can't wait to read this piece!!!

totally agree on srinivasan's treatment of the professor-student sex question, it felt so refreshing to read something about the issue that wasn't just a rehash of the same tired and circular discourse about age gaps and power imbalances but instead focuses on the most important issue at hand; i.e. the role of an educator and the ability to carry out that role

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