1) On Bourdieu, I found Distinction really difficult to understand. On the advice of a Bourdieu scholar, I took the shortcut of reading his essay "Forms of Capital."
I wrote a post about different types of capital, including a link to that essay on the bottom of my post.
2) On the Cut article, your and BDM's take was more expansive and incisive than my own. Thanks for that. Since the author was also focused on the danger of losing her youthful beauty, I observed that many women grow more beautiful with age, and as men age, some men (me!) are more attracted to older women.
Thank you, David! Your post was a great read and I definitely want to check out "Forms of Capital"—so much American discourse on class/inequality is hampered by our simplistic definition of capital (collapsing social/cultural capital into economic capital, instead of dividing these out into separate categories)
Also, totally agree that there are SO many positive aspects to being an older woman, and many people admire the maturity and perceptiveness that comes with age! One of the great tragedies of the Cut essay is that the writer doesn't seem to realize that she can live in a world that decenters youth in favor of other (imo better) qualities…
Michel Houellebecq is such an amazing writer. He's my guilty literary pleasure as I don't quite like him as a person. I find him quite lurid (not sure he qualifies for Claire Dereder's book, though) but I have to surrender to his prose. It was actually a fantastic French teacher (a woman) who encouraged me to read it as she also disliked the man but respected the writer.
I love a good guilty literary pleasure…and I do think he's a really great writer. I also began reading The Map and the Territory (but it was a library ebook and was SNATCHED away from me before I could finish it!) and was really drawn into the writing style and story
Maybe Houellebecq isn't monstrous in the Polanski, &c way but in a minor, "oh, this is a little offensive, I might feel a bit embarrassed (in certain audiences) saying I really like Houellebecq, and yet—"
Ada Lovelace used "&c" quite frequently in her letters (also "&c &c &c." which is so real) both ways which means, to me, pick whatever looks the best ✍️(◔◡◔)
People are crude, indeed. The argument for reading things that make you uncomfortable is so important nowadays. I read Submission by Houllebecq and can only agree with your disagreement with his character's thought process. Still, it's a part of what should be talked about in the broader narrative. A good novel is good not because it treads lightly but because it is honest.
Thank you for your comment, and I totally agree—reading uncomfortable and morally/ethically taxing things can be a way to understand our own, sometimes conflicting values more deeply. This is not an argument for literature that is offensive for the sake of being edgy, but it IS an argument for literature that—as you said—is stringently honest about the world we live in, and helps us see it more clearly
I’m reminded of something Ottessa Moshfegh said once: “A novel is a literary work of art meant to expand consciousness. We need novels that live in an amoral universe, past the political agenda described on social media. We have imaginations for a reason. Novels like American Psycho and Lolita did not poison culture. Murderous corporations and exploitive industries did. We need characters in novels to be free to range into the dark and wrong. How else will we understand ourselves?”
I am a big Houellebecq fan. “Whatever” was one of the first books I read in French when I taught English in France for a year and a colleague’s husband recommended it to me (it has a completely different and much better title in French.) I then read the other novels but haven’t got to the two most recent ones. I find Houellebecq’s bad boy reputation to be wildly off the mark. If you watch any interview with him he comes off as rather timid and sensitive. There are some great ones on YouTube.
Also wanted to comment on this remark: “his novels are quite frank (sometimes unpleasantly so) about repugnant things: deeply-rooted misogyny, racism, Islamophobia. But I also found Whatever to be a remarkably precise portrait of social isolation and loneliness, a portrait that still feels relevant in 2024.” Don’t you think these two things (misogyny, racism, etc.) and social isolation/loneliness go together? The former are simply misguided cures for the latter, or perhaps the manifestation of those ills. Anyway I think you’ll enjoy his other novels if you liked Whatever.
No, I think you're very right that the 2 are connected! Someone might feel an immense dissatisfaction with contemporary life, and that dissatisfaction is channeled into a particular vision of reality—aided by long-running misogynist or racist ideas. You're lonely and can't find love AND there's all this feminist rhetoric in the media? You feel economically disempowered AND there are more migrants arriving in your country every week? The latter must be causally producing the former…
I will have to watch some interviews now—I'm really fascinated at how different writers are in their demeanor vs their prose! Thanks so much for your very thought-provoking comment!!
I read The Odd Woman in the City based off your recommendation and I loved it so, so much. All the tiny moments of city life in it inspired me to leave my headphones in my bag and pay attention to every little moment of overlapping lives. My Notes app is a full of them.
your comment inspired me to leave my headphones at home today! it's so INTERESTING being in a city, genuinely so exciting and lively, but sometimes we forget
(and then great writing can remind us: return to the real world! pay attention to it!)
I left academia a little over two years ago and have since been stuck in a rut in terms of writing, learning, and creating. Your newsletter is an endless source of inspiration and it has been pushing me to get back to all those pursuits I've set aside. Currently have 7 different tabs open thanks to the things you've linked here. Please never stop sharing!!! <3
Ginevra! this is such a kind comment, thank you!!!
I honestly feel like the big project of my life at the moment is trying to carve out an intellectual and literary and artistic life outside of academia, outside of a formal structure where that kind of work is legibly and obviously done…
Somehow, it felt easier to take reading and writing seriously in grad school, and almost…pretentious? embarrassing? to do so outside of school (not to mention the lack of time!)
Writing this newsletter has been a really nice way to take those goals seriously, and I'm so happy it's also been meaningful to you ❤️ All the best, and hope you can find the time for your own work and interests!
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 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
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
So great! Of course to hear your take on Monsters and also Houellebecq, who is *such* an interesting writer. I think I preferred the Elementary Particles to Whatever, but in general appreciate the “directness” — he and Tony Tulathimutte feel like the writers really unafraid to delve into the grosser, more naked elements of male desirability discourse.
oh, I haven't read Elementary Particles but will have to check it out!
I love Tony Tulathimutte too—it's almost viscerally grotesque writing, but it does get at very real gender/racial/sexual anxieties that so many people experience (and maybe need literature to explore in a cathartic and critical manner!)
A super rich month in March! I really admire holding such strong goals for your writing - literary criticism is something I’ve also wanted to get sharp at and sometimes forcing yourself to meet certain goals is the best way to see a change! What did you think of ‘The Old Woman and The City’? I’ve wanted to read it for a while x
I loved it! it's a very smooth read imo (fluid, lots of gossipy details about Vivian Gornick's friends, acquaintances, and lovers) but with great reflections on friendships, cities, love, class differences
Your newsletter is so rich and nourishing and inspiring! Thanks for what you do ❤️
thank you, this is a really kind comment! hope you have a beautiful April 🕊️
Two comments:
1) On Bourdieu, I found Distinction really difficult to understand. On the advice of a Bourdieu scholar, I took the shortcut of reading his essay "Forms of Capital."
I wrote a post about different types of capital, including a link to that essay on the bottom of my post.
https://robertsdavidn.substack.com/p/wealth-is-merely-one-form-of-capital
2) On the Cut article, your and BDM's take was more expansive and incisive than my own. Thanks for that. Since the author was also focused on the danger of losing her youthful beauty, I observed that many women grow more beautiful with age, and as men age, some men (me!) are more attracted to older women.
Thank you, David! Your post was a great read and I definitely want to check out "Forms of Capital"—so much American discourse on class/inequality is hampered by our simplistic definition of capital (collapsing social/cultural capital into economic capital, instead of dividing these out into separate categories)
Also, totally agree that there are SO many positive aspects to being an older woman, and many people admire the maturity and perceptiveness that comes with age! One of the great tragedies of the Cut essay is that the writer doesn't seem to realize that she can live in a world that decenters youth in favor of other (imo better) qualities…
Something about learning what other people are reading, learning, and doing in order to grow.
A breathe of fresh air!
thank you for your kind comment!!
Michel Houellebecq is such an amazing writer. He's my guilty literary pleasure as I don't quite like him as a person. I find him quite lurid (not sure he qualifies for Claire Dereder's book, though) but I have to surrender to his prose. It was actually a fantastic French teacher (a woman) who encouraged me to read it as she also disliked the man but respected the writer.
I love a good guilty literary pleasure…and I do think he's a really great writer. I also began reading The Map and the Territory (but it was a library ebook and was SNATCHED away from me before I could finish it!) and was really drawn into the writing style and story
Maybe Houellebecq isn't monstrous in the Polanski, &c way but in a minor, "oh, this is a little offensive, I might feel a bit embarrassed (in certain audiences) saying I really like Houellebecq, and yet—"
loved all of the nourishment here!!!
Ada Lovelace used "&c" quite frequently in her letters (also "&c &c &c." which is so real) both ways which means, to me, pick whatever looks the best ✍️(◔◡◔)
thank you Madina! 💌
also I didn't know this about Ada Lovelace but I'm so delighted…a great thinker, writer, computer scientist to emulate!
People are crude, indeed. The argument for reading things that make you uncomfortable is so important nowadays. I read Submission by Houllebecq and can only agree with your disagreement with his character's thought process. Still, it's a part of what should be talked about in the broader narrative. A good novel is good not because it treads lightly but because it is honest.
Thank you for your comment, and I totally agree—reading uncomfortable and morally/ethically taxing things can be a way to understand our own, sometimes conflicting values more deeply. This is not an argument for literature that is offensive for the sake of being edgy, but it IS an argument for literature that—as you said—is stringently honest about the world we live in, and helps us see it more clearly
I’m reminded of something Ottessa Moshfegh said once: “A novel is a literary work of art meant to expand consciousness. We need novels that live in an amoral universe, past the political agenda described on social media. We have imaginations for a reason. Novels like American Psycho and Lolita did not poison culture. Murderous corporations and exploitive industries did. We need characters in novels to be free to range into the dark and wrong. How else will we understand ourselves?”
https://www.bookforum.com/print/2802/bookforum-contributors-on-the-risky-books-they-d-like-to-read-now-24492
Couldn't agree more. Blaming the art for reflecting a poisoned culture is an age old tradition, isn't it?
I am a big Houellebecq fan. “Whatever” was one of the first books I read in French when I taught English in France for a year and a colleague’s husband recommended it to me (it has a completely different and much better title in French.) I then read the other novels but haven’t got to the two most recent ones. I find Houellebecq’s bad boy reputation to be wildly off the mark. If you watch any interview with him he comes off as rather timid and sensitive. There are some great ones on YouTube.
Also wanted to comment on this remark: “his novels are quite frank (sometimes unpleasantly so) about repugnant things: deeply-rooted misogyny, racism, Islamophobia. But I also found Whatever to be a remarkably precise portrait of social isolation and loneliness, a portrait that still feels relevant in 2024.” Don’t you think these two things (misogyny, racism, etc.) and social isolation/loneliness go together? The former are simply misguided cures for the latter, or perhaps the manifestation of those ills. Anyway I think you’ll enjoy his other novels if you liked Whatever.
No, I think you're very right that the 2 are connected! Someone might feel an immense dissatisfaction with contemporary life, and that dissatisfaction is channeled into a particular vision of reality—aided by long-running misogynist or racist ideas. You're lonely and can't find love AND there's all this feminist rhetoric in the media? You feel economically disempowered AND there are more migrants arriving in your country every week? The latter must be causally producing the former…
I will have to watch some interviews now—I'm really fascinated at how different writers are in their demeanor vs their prose! Thanks so much for your very thought-provoking comment!!
I read The Odd Woman in the City based off your recommendation and I loved it so, so much. All the tiny moments of city life in it inspired me to leave my headphones in my bag and pay attention to every little moment of overlapping lives. My Notes app is a full of them.
your comment inspired me to leave my headphones at home today! it's so INTERESTING being in a city, genuinely so exciting and lively, but sometimes we forget
(and then great writing can remind us: return to the real world! pay attention to it!)
I left academia a little over two years ago and have since been stuck in a rut in terms of writing, learning, and creating. Your newsletter is an endless source of inspiration and it has been pushing me to get back to all those pursuits I've set aside. Currently have 7 different tabs open thanks to the things you've linked here. Please never stop sharing!!! <3
Ginevra! this is such a kind comment, thank you!!!
I honestly feel like the big project of my life at the moment is trying to carve out an intellectual and literary and artistic life outside of academia, outside of a formal structure where that kind of work is legibly and obviously done…
Somehow, it felt easier to take reading and writing seriously in grad school, and almost…pretentious? embarrassing? to do so outside of school (not to mention the lack of time!)
Writing this newsletter has been a really nice way to take those goals seriously, and I'm so happy it's also been meaningful to you ❤️ All the best, and hope you can find the time for your own work and interests!
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
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!
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
i'm adding Vivian and Houellebecq to my reading list based on your reviews !
Cecilia! thank you so much for reading, and would love your thoughts on them (or really any other books you're excited by atm!)
Wow these are some great finds and a good analysis of them as well!
thank you Sasha!! really appreciate you reading and leaving a comment 💞
So great! Of course to hear your take on Monsters and also Houellebecq, who is *such* an interesting writer. I think I preferred the Elementary Particles to Whatever, but in general appreciate the “directness” — he and Tony Tulathimutte feel like the writers really unafraid to delve into the grosser, more naked elements of male desirability discourse.
oh, I haven't read Elementary Particles but will have to check it out!
I love Tony Tulathimutte too—it's almost viscerally grotesque writing, but it does get at very real gender/racial/sexual anxieties that so many people experience (and maybe need literature to explore in a cathartic and critical manner!)
love reading these, as always!
thank you!! always appreciate being read by you ~
A super rich month in March! I really admire holding such strong goals for your writing - literary criticism is something I’ve also wanted to get sharp at and sometimes forcing yourself to meet certain goals is the best way to see a change! What did you think of ‘The Old Woman and The City’? I’ve wanted to read it for a while x
I loved it! it's a very smooth read imo (fluid, lots of gossipy details about Vivian Gornick's friends, acquaintances, and lovers) but with great reflections on friendships, cities, love, class differences
if you read it, would love to get your thoughts!