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MERIT_INSTITUTIONALIZED

                                                                
                                                                     
                                              August    14, 2006     
                                              September 11, 2006     
                                                                     
If we grant the main premises of                                     
Kostelanetz' "End of Intelligent Writing"                            
(literary cliques are on the rise, and this    END_OF_INTELLIGENT_WRITING
is inducing a decline in literary quality                            
and interest), where does that get us?                               
                                                                     
   What's the fix?                                                   
                                                                     
   How would one go after this problem?                              
                                                                     
It does not look like Kostelanetz                                    
really has a prescription of any        Ah, but there is the closing chapter,
sort... after recognizing the           "What is to be Done?", which is
problem, there is supposed to be        essentially a plea for alternative
an upwelling of outrage and             literary institutions, a new set of
protest, and then the problem will      underground small presses and so on.
go away... somehow.                                                  
                                                Note: he was         
But someone has to be                           writing in 1974.     
the editor, right?                                                   
                                                                     
And the editor is                                                    
bound to have friends,                                               
or to make friends.                                                  
                                                                     
Moreover, the editor is bound to have--                              
is required to have-- opinions, a point         How could one possibly 
of view, an understanding of what is worth      estimate the merit of
publishing and what is not.                     a work without applying
                                                a point of view?     
                                                                     
                                                    (There are no "objective    
                                                    literary standards", are  
                                                    there?)                     
                                                                                
But maybe: no one person                                No neutrality           
has to be The Editor.                                   in art.                 
                                                                                
You could institute a more elaborate                                     
bureaucracy...  an editorial board             And actually, some of the 
that votes.                                    more unusual things he    
                                               discusses in the final
Some sort of system of checks and              chapter include new
balances in an attempt to check                social institutions,
attempts at seizing control of the             e.g. cells of writers
board -- e.g. subscribers get to               cooperatives that agree
vote on membership of the board.               to help promote the
                                               output of all of the
   First thought: this is pretty               other cells...
   expensive for a marginal
   enterprise like a literary                     But doesn't that sound
   magazine.                                      like just a new group
                                                  of cronies?
       But then, maybe -- at least at
       the outset -- the positions
       could be unpaid.                                  Maybe there's
                                                         some expectation
   Second thought: you could end up with                 that you can then
   an extremely loyal subscriber base,                   "let the market
   if they're continually involved with                  decide".
   political fights over the direction of
   the publication.                                      *Any* increase
                                                         in diversity of
                                                         products would
But then, really we don't much think in                  give the market
terms of paper publication as far as                     more to work
entrepreneurship is concerned.                           with...



The future is the web!


   So let's envision a website...

   A place like kuro5hin.org,
   where the prominence of a
   story is award democratically,
   by the votes of the more
   dedicated faction of the
   readers?



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