Comments on: Literary Bloodsport Part 3: The Writers Strike Back

By: James Bradley

James Bradley — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:33:05 +0000

I’m not sure I agree. I think different people behave differently, but while I’m definitely focussed on on how I sound when I’m writing a post, if I’m involved in a discussion I’m much more focussed on the discussion, and on the sharing of ideas. I probably think a bit more than I would before I open my mouth (though given how much further ahead of my brain my mouth usually works that’s not saying much), and if it’s somethign contentious I probably try and make sure what I’m saying is clear and reasonably qualified, but that doesn’t mean I’m not focussed on the person or persons I’m replying to. You’re probably right that part of the satisfaction lies in formulating your ideas in written words, but I don’t think that precludes honest and open exchange.

And yes, there is an irony in us having this conversation online. As for Perth Airport, we were just transiting, so we didn’t get to spend any real time in your fai city (or your company).

And if I were you I’d register http://www.whatithinkaboutthings.com asap – it’s a corker.

By: Kate Rice

Kate Rice — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:24:46 +0000

I spent a bit of time thinking about this last year when I created a verbatim theatre play script based on an online flame war. I was flamed myself in the end – described as a “desperate cow” and “the wife of that tosser from Barking Gecko.”

I think you’re right; online blogs and forums have much more in common with letters-to-the-editor than with any other form of discussion – the significant differences being that publication is instant, and there is no editor.

I don’t think conversation and performance are necessarily mutually exclusive – or ought to be – but for me the crucial element of conversation is that you’re very much engaged in whether and to what extent your message is getting through to the person you’re speaking with. If you’re not, you’re a filthy bore and no one will listen to you anyway. In the online world … yes I think the filthy bores have won, because we have all become one of them! Ha ha!

When you’re writing online, you’re necessarily much more engaged with how brilliantly you’re expressing yourself, and how far and wide you’re brilliance is about to be flung. You immediately feel the satisfaction of having said something – not the satisfaction of having someone else understand you.

I’m not having a go. I think your blog is great and I’m very much of a mind to start up my own. I shall call it “What I Think About Things”. And I’m enjoying the irony of this exchange. I’m telling myself it’s different because we know each other. Why didn’t you call when you were gazing at the history books at the Perth Airport, by the way?

By: James Bradley

James Bradley — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:15:55 +0000

I’ll have to pass on the attractiveness of Alain, I’m afraid, though I’m pleased for him it’s not just middle-aged lesbians who think he’s hot stuff. What I am interested by is your argument online discussion isn’t discussion but a series of performances, not least because so much of what we write and say about the virtues of the online world is predicated on the idea that it promotes discussion. But when one steps back from it, there is a sense in which comments strings like this one are really a series of little performances bouncing off each other. In this sense they’re not as far away from the slower, and more performative processes of old media, the reviews and letters and replies to letters (and in the TLS, replies to replies to letters, and replies to replies to replies to letters). Of course all writing is performative, as, indeed, is the sort of sparring intellectual conversation prized in the salons blogs would rather like to think themselves modern analogues of. But are conversation and performance actually mutually exclusive? Or does the whole idea of public culture depend upon a fusion of the two?

By: Kate Rice

Kate Rice — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:06:44 +0000

Yes Alain de Botton’s my crumpet and his childish vindictiveness makes him even more attractive.

But I have to agree with you James. If one puts work out there, one has to take whatever follows, including mean-spirited criticism from people who have too much power and not enough self-awareness. Electronic media makes attempts at retaliation easier and superficially more satisfying at the time, but doesn’t make them more successful. A web forum is not so much a dialogue as a series of performances.

Alain should have come to me with his troubles instead. I could have read “Consolations of Philosophy” to him aloud and told him about the silent rage I am currently maintaining because I will not get into a fight I can’t win.

By: Pavlov's Cat

Pavlov's Cat — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:58:34 +0000

‘I’ve always believed novels and stories are living things: mysterious, ineffable, prismatic, and that while writers may be required to promote them, ultimately the book will take on its own life separate from them.’

Exactly. Meaning is created when the writing meets the reader, somewhere between the page and the eyes. And every pair of eyes is different.