Timeline of online insecurity
by Steve
Hi folks. No time for a proper, real blog post today. Apologies etc. I’m a busy man. Or at least I like to give the impression that I am. However, I thought I’d keep you all entertained with a little placeholder. Please enjoy this lil’ cartoon from Sticky Comics, after the jump (for those of you on the front page, anyways…):
Being the worrier and general stats hound that I am, I can certainly relate. Also, being halfway through Jonathan Franzen’s book of essays How To Be Alone, the final panel seems particularly apt. Funny how in the mid-nineties Franzen and many others were worrying about the End of Serious Books and the end of Proper Reading in the face of new technologies, and we’re still worrying about it now. These are worries for another day, dear reader, but do feel free to voice your concerns or reassurances in the comments box below…
Wait until next year 
It might become more of a niche, like poetry or opera, but people will continue to study and read serious literature. I have some thoughts on this, but a comment probably isn’t the best place to map out my thinking. Maybe I’ll post about it someday. Until then, rest assured.
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Yep, I think I was being a little flippant in asking you to address the future of serious literature in the comments box of a post with a silly cartoon in it. I’d certainly like to read your thoughts on it someday, though.
This book looks like an interesting start: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004TAM7S0/ref=nosim/themillions-20
My initial suspicion is that the future is never quite as exciting and revolutionary as we might think. There’s probably parallels to be made with music production/consumption. Then there’s actually defining ‘serious’ literature. Ah. I need to stop now and leave this for another time…
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I’ve read quite a few stories about The Late American Novel. It sounds like writers and publishers are worried, what with the shift from paper to digital, but the book industry seems more prepared than the music industry to tackle the change.
People have worried about the decline of literature for a long time. It’s interesting how much hand-wringing there is about the future of literature relative to other important activities seemingly on the decline: vigorous exercise, oil-based portrait painting, Catholic school enrollment, the knuckleball, children’s comedies involving naughty chimps, etc.
What is “serious literature”? Another post idea. Perhaps we should have a scholarly blog-like discussion.
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The music industry was hideously unprepared, and still seems a little dazed. The one industry that has truly and successfully adapted to the Internet Age is porn. Yet I wonder how many music/publishing/media/TV/etc execs would want to (publicly at least) learn from the skin industry?
Re: hand-wringing – it is hard to tell when something is genuinely under threat, or when it is just the “This town/country/world is going to hell in a handcart” brigade in action. I guess we all overstate the importance of our particular sphere.
I do fear for the knuckleball, though.
“Perhaps we should have a scholarly blog-like discussion.”
Perhaps we should!
In the meantime I’m seeking out more children’s comedies involving naughty chimps.
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