Without wanting to be a huge jerk about it (though unavoidably a minor jerk), I would note first that one *can* edit inaccurate Wikipedia entries and second that what fascinates me both about this post is that I believe Ann Beattie is the only woman mentioned in it. That's neither here nor there, and as a newcomer to this newsletter, I don't know that it signifies anything other than what a particular set of book critic people were thinking about in the last few decades of the 20th century.
I'll also spare you a recap of the argument I had with my mother the other day about the phrase "guilty pleasure," the purpose of reading, the purpose of existence, Aristotle, my dad, various works by CS Lewis, Lois McMaster Bujold, H. Rider Haggard, and some other things I've forgotten.
Without wanting to be a huge jerk about it (though unavoidably a minor jerk), I would note first that one *can* edit inaccurate Wikipedia entries and second that what fascinates me both about this post is that I believe Ann Beattie is the only woman mentioned in it. That's neither here nor there, and as a newcomer to this newsletter, I don't know that it signifies anything other than what a particular set of book critic people were thinking about in the last few decades of the 20th century.
I'll also spare you a recap of the argument I had with my mother the other day about the phrase "guilty pleasure," the purpose of reading, the purpose of existence, Aristotle, my dad, various works by CS Lewis, Lois McMaster Bujold, H. Rider Haggard, and some other things I've forgotten.