Some Thoughts on “Hype”
Also: What Belongs to You turns 10; and some tips for debut novelists
Some news:
Tristan watching party. The opera world is very excited for next month’s Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera. It’s a new staging, but the real excitement is Lise Davidsen, who has long been seen as destined for Isolde and who tackled the role for the first time this month in Barcelona, to excellent reviews. There’s also a lot of excitement about Michael Spyres taking on Tristan. I’ll be seeing the show twice: in the hall, and then again on Saturday, March 21 (two days after my birthday!), when the Met will be beaming into movie theaters around the world as part of its Live in HD series. I would like to invite you to watch that broadcast with me. You can find your nearest theater here. On Sunday, I’ll share some thoughts here on Substack, and I’d love for you to share your thoughts in the comments, which will be open to everybody. If there’s interest, we could try to arrange for a videochat as well. But for now, get your tickets to a showing. (If there isn’t a theater in your area, you might be able to watch via The Met’s Live at Home series.)
Two upcoming events: Friends in Boston, I’m reading at Boston University this Wednesday, February 4, as part of the Ha Jin Visiting Lecture Series. I’d love to see you there. You can find full information here. I’m also excited to be visiting Yale University on Wednesday, February 18, for an event with the beautiful poet Richie Hofmann, whose new book is The Bronze Arms. Full information here.
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I try not to spend much time on social media, and slowly am getting better at it, but occasionally something catches my eye. For instance, opening up Substack the other day, which annoyingly defaults to the annoying Notes feed (can this be un-defaulted? can someone tell me how?), I saw an exchange between the critic Becca Rothfeld, whom I know and like, and whose work I respect, and Freddie deBoer, whom I don’t know at all. I have a murky sense that people like to get mad at him and I’m very happy not to know why. I also have a copy of his recent novel, The Mind Reels, which I picked up off a table in Ann Arbor’s Literati a few months ago after the first pages of it drew me in; I hope to return to it soon.
Anyway, Becca had somewhat vagueposted a note that began like this:
It is annoying when people assume that a book is doing well or a person is famous because of a nefarious plot, because reviewers are currying favor with the writer in question, or because of whatever “paid protestors” theory of success is in favor that day.
To which deBoer responded “Why don’t you people just tag me,” along with some abuse, which was disappointing; and disappointingly I let my curiosity get the better of me and started poking around for the discourse.
