Focus Problems

article posted Jul 25, 23:29

I found this fascinating piece in The Guardian this morning and just had to share it.

It deals with a number of interesting problems afflicting the book world these days, among them the ridiculous interest in authors rather than their work. That one baffles me. I’ve encountered any number of people reading biographies of authors who told me they were doing so because “they were important writers,” and yet they had never read any of the work… Seriously? If a person’s significance to biographers stems from their literary work, doesn’t that suggest that perhaps the work is the important stuff… not the biography.

It also covers the issue of writers getting paid. No small thing either, but probably in less need of explaining.

Anyway, have a look and see if it makes any sense to you.