Reading in the Time of Monsters 003 - Lockwood, "No One Is Talking About This" and the Problems of Contemporary Literature

Reading in the Time of Monsters

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Reading in the Time of Monsters 003 - Lockwood, "No One Is Talking About This" and the Problems of Contemporary Literature

Peter Berard

Feb 12, 2023

This went from a reasonably straightforward review of a book I did not like — Patricia Lockwood’s 2021 novel No One Is Talking About This — to a whole… thing. A manifesto? In any event, an episode that was going to be me talking about how one lousy novel indicated some of the problems with contemporary English-language letters has turned into a longer spiel as I try to explain what I think is wrong, why, and what alternatives might look like. In my observation, critical podcasts — not just literary criticism but film and tv criticism, “cultural criticism” more broadly, which tips into political discourse which has the same issue — lays out a few broad lines of agreement, usually shared enemies, and expects the producers’ twitter following to get what it all means through social context. Well, I haven’t got a twitter. So I need to explain it all.

I said I was going to paywall odd-numbered episodes, and I am, but I’m going to start at 005 instead, as this is late, and something of a statement of my program. If you want to see all my content — all the podcasts, all the reviews, all the cat pics — subscribe at the Citizen level or above at Melendy Avenue Review. Subscribe for free for half the podcasts and some of the rest of the podcasts.

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Reading in the Time of Monsters

The old world is dying; the new one cannot be born; now is the time of monsters. What better time to read, and read seriously? Every pedant on the internet thinks they're a critic because they have cultural preferences and their various streaming and social media services encourage them to state these preferences in little boxes. But some of us think criticism is something more. We know that criticism implies a way of being- a rejection of complacence, a dedication to searching high, low, and in between for insight and perspective, a constant development of the critical toolkit. Not only does that way of being point towards a better existence, but it also makes for criticism that's more fun to read. That's the gambit of this podcast- that there's an audience for something other than same-same mediocrity and parasocial agreement-clubs.

There should be one free episode a month. There will be another for people who become Citizens by subscribing at the Citizen (or Chieftain!) level at Melendy Avenue Review. MAR includes numerous text reviews a month, various life updates and guest posts, cute cat pictures, etc.

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