A Reader's Manifesto

A Reader's Manifesto is an article, written by B. R. Myers, from the July/August 2001 issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine. The article, which saw no end of responses from admirers as from critics, is, as Myers had described it, "a light-hearted polemic" about modern literature.

Related Topics:
B. R. Myers - July - August 2001 - The Atlantic Monthly

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Myers is particularly concerned with what he sees as the growing pretentiousness of American literary fiction. He is skeptical about the value of elaborate, allusive prose, and argues that what is praised as good writing is often in fact the epitome of bad writing. His attack concentrates on E. Annie Proulx, Cormac McCarthy, Paul Auster, David Guterson, Don DeLillo, and (in the conclusion) Rick Moody. It may be said that Myers continues the unpopular attack on postmodernism, of which John Gardner (On Moral Fiction) was the most recent proponent, albeit Myers offers a superficial (light-hearted?), textural analysis; it so happens that Myers's favorite "modern" authors (Beckett, Bellow) are, to John Gardner, the albatross of art's modern failures.

Related Topics:
Literary fiction - E. Annie Proulx - Cormac McCarthy - Paul Auster - David Guterson - Don DeLillo - Rick Moody - Postmodernism - John Gardner - On Moral Fiction - Beckett - Bellow

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Melville House published an expanded edition of the article in a book under the same name. (ISBN 0971865906)

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