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> what is the takeaway here? You didn't seem to have the endurance to make it to the closing paragraph, so I've reproduced it here: > I have new lessons in no

> what is the takeaway here? You didn't seem to have the endurance to make it to the closing paragraph, so I've reproduced it here: > I have new lessons in not stopping, after the election. If you are reading this, and you’re a writer, and you, like me, are gripped with despair, when you think you might stop: Speak to your dead. Write for your dead. Tell them a story. What are you doing with this life? Let them hold you accountable. Let them make you bolder or more modest or louder or more loving, whatever it is, but ask them in, listen, and then write. And when war comes—and make no mistake, it is already here—be sure you write for the living too. The ones you love and the ones who are coming for your life. What will you give them when they get there? The author believes that writing, and especially writing in America, is devalued to such an extent that he personally feels a sense of loss and fear. His advice to himself and others is that writing and self-expression has real value outside of whatever the people around you ascribe to it. Let me know if you want me to break it down any more.

Nelkins 8y ago
I found the writer.
bernardino 8y ago
> The author believes that writing, and especially writing in America, is devalued to such an extent that he personally feels a sense of loss and fear. His advice to himself and others is that writing and self-expression has real value outside of whatever the people around you ascribe to it. I don't see why he would feel loss and fear. Do you think you could break it down for me? I mean, American culture is particularly toxic and anyways, one should not be influenced by it but rather think for himself. I would expect as a writer he would be aware that writing in itself is for the writer, first and foremost, then for anyone else. With that said, why would it matter if a particular culture devalues writing? A writer knows inwardly that words and words alone are beyond powerful. It just seems he is already aware of the falseness of American culture, so why feel loss and fear in regard to what it devalues? It's all gravy, just write.
- watwut 8y ago
  That is not how feeling works and author talks about feelings. Breaking feelings down is exercise in rationalization usually. Feeling is effectively chemical reaction in your brain after all. Why would you expect writer to feel the same feelings then you? People are influenced by culture around them, that is just how we are wired and that is what allowed us to build civilizations. The one "should not be influenced by culture" is not fully achievable goal. The the extend it is achievable, you start by realizing how it is influencing you, by thinking about it and that is what article is doing.
vonnik 8y ago
Writers have been despairing about writing in America for the last couple decades, maybe longer.[0] They are right to note that serious writing has been eclipsed by other media, like television, gaming, movies and the Internet. It's hard to make a living as a writer. Lots of people want to write, but nobody owes them a living, and they end up caught between their own inclinations and an indifferent market. Most of them end up teaching to pay the rent, like Chee. (That of course is pyramid scheme, like others in academia, where teachers teach would-be teachers even though there are not enough teaching roles to go around.) Chee has written some pretty good things.[1] He has also written some self-indulgent things, which, in my opinion, includes the essay through the link above. Self-indulgence is one hallmark of contemporary creative non-fiction in America. It's frequently soft autobiography and banal scenes ginned up with internal melodramas. Whether or not one enjoys that is a matter of taste that we won't settle here. Those who are put off by the self-indulgence will be less likely to read Chee in the future, which makes his expressions of despair the trigger of a vicious circle. But Chee is not writing for a general readership here. He says he is writing for other writers, and the general readers among us just stumbled on his letter to them. Maybe it's just what they needed. [0] Jonathan Franzen "Perchance to Dream: In the Age of Images, a reason to write novels" (Paywall) https://archive.harpers.org/1996/04/pdf/HarpersMagazine-1996-04-0007955.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJUM7PFZHQ4PMJ4LA&Expires=1524535179&Signature=ahDC5czIWIzLbqcu9jouGMvwZqE%3D https://archive.harpers.org/1996/04/pdf/HarpersMagazine-1996... [1] Annie Dillard and the Writing Life https://themorningnews.org/article/annie-dillard-and-the-writing-life https://themorningnews.org/article/annie-dillard-and-the-wri...

Nelkins 8y ago

I found the writer.

bernardino 8y ago

> The author believes that writing, and especially writing in America, is devalued to such an extent that he personally feels a sense of loss and fear. His advice to himself and others is that writing and self-expression has real value outside of whatever the people around you ascribe to it. I don't see why he would feel loss and fear. Do you think you could break it down for me? I mean, American culture is particularly toxic and anyways, one should not be influenced by it but rather think for himself. I would expect as a writer he would be aware that writing in itself is for the writer, first and foremost, then for anyone else. With that said, why would it matter if a particular culture devalues writing? A writer knows inwardly that words and words alone are beyond powerful. It just seems he is already aware of the falseness of American culture, so why feel loss and fear in regard to what it devalues? It's all gravy, just write.

watwut 8y ago
That is not how feeling works and author talks about feelings. Breaking feelings down is exercise in rationalization usually. Feeling is effectively chemical reaction in your brain after all. Why would you expect writer to feel the same feelings then you? People are influenced by culture around them, that is just how we are wired and that is what allowed us to build civilizations. The one "should not be influenced by culture" is not fully achievable goal. The the extend it is achievable, you start by realizing how it is influencing you, by thinking about it and that is what article is doing.

vonnik 8y ago

Writers have been despairing about writing in America for the last couple decades, maybe longer.[0] They are right to note that serious writing has been eclipsed by other media, like television, gaming, movies and the Internet. It's hard to make a living as a writer. Lots of people want to write, but nobody owes them a living, and they end up caught between their own inclinations and an indifferent market. Most of them end up teaching to pay the rent, like Chee. (That of course is pyramid scheme, like others in academia, where teachers teach would-be teachers even though there are not enough teaching roles to go around.) Chee has written some pretty good things.[1] He has also written some self-indulgent things, which, in my opinion, includes the essay through the link above. Self-indulgence is one hallmark of contemporary creative non-fiction in America. It's frequently soft autobiography and banal scenes ginned up with internal melodramas. Whether or not one enjoys that is a matter of taste that we won't settle here. Those who are put off by the self-indulgence will be less likely to read Chee in the future, which makes his expressions of despair the trigger of a vicious circle. But Chee is not writing for a general readership here. He says he is writing for other writers, and the general readers among us just stumbled on his letter to them. Maybe it's just what they needed. [0] Jonathan Franzen "Perchance to Dream: In the Age of Images, a reason to write novels" (Paywall) https://archive.harpers.org/1996/04/pdf/HarpersMagazine-1996-04-0007955.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJUM7PFZHQ4PMJ4LA&Expires=1524535179&Signature=ahDC5czIWIzLbqcu9jouGMvwZqE%3D https://archive.harpers.org/1996/04/pdf/HarpersMagazine-1996... [1] Annie Dillard and the Writing Life https://themorningnews.org/article/annie-dillard-and-the-writing-life https://themorningnews.org/article/annie-dillard-and-the-wri...