It’s very clear why the essay created the insanity that it did. There is apparently only one truth that is allowed to be acknowledged. And no Jewish Israeli can hold that truth no matter how they try. Unless perhaps they try to blow themselves up or blow up their country of origin.
Hi Zina, I found your post via Mary L. Tabor and I'm glad I read it - thank you for sharing it, and especially the link to Joanna's essay, which I hadn't read yet. I'm shocked that such a humanist, personal essay caused so much controversy. I'm now inclined to seek out her translations as she seems like a fine human being.
Thank you, Ollie. Yes, Chen sounds like a decent human being who is trying to make the world better. I never would have known about her had it not been for this debacle so perhaps good fruits will come of it. I believe many moderates, including myself, have been cowed into silence for fear of the extremists who dominate platforms. I think this event has been a wake up call for myself, personally. I hope others will join in the good fight to preserve literature and, in the process, human dignity.
Thank you. Yes, we need courageous writers who aren’t afraid of standing up to the mob. I am glad that major main stream publications called this out for what it was. The way things are going, I was surprised they did, but I was happy to see it. All is not lost. Not yet, at least.
I must say, after reading Joanna Chen’s piece (thanks for the archive link) I’m baffled how any human—let alone editor—could construe the article as anything other than trying to illustrate humanity in inhumane times. The puritanical level of reactionary behavior in this age is not so much a puzzle as a reminder of how necessary honest work is. Keeping on keeping on 🙏🏼
Yes. But I have to have faith. At least some publications came out strongly against what happened. It is a sign that all is not lost, but we are peering into the void right now.
I read Chen's essay and you, Zina, are totally on point. What a world we live in that such an essay would cause resignations and withdrawal of the piece.
The misuse of the word "fulsome" by, horrors, a literary magazine whose owners ought own a dictionary, is only one of the delights of this essay so full of wisdom. I'm off to read the essay that caused so much furor in the midst of this essay that does such a fine job of bringing to the fore Shakespeare's play _Julius Caesar_ while honoring others writing here on Substack.
Fulsome. I wonder if someone on the inside was playing a joke? I cannot believe it. Anyway, it is weirdly apt at this point. And thank you for reading the original essay as well as mine. ❤️
The word "fulsome" is so often misused that the dictionary you quoted now lists the meaning as perhaps the way they meant it. But, really? And the essay by Chen: a stunning example of what literary essays can do, should do and not become a statement of politics.
Thank you, Zina. This was a great read. I especially like your subtitle: "Just because you are stabbing Caesar doesn't mean you are saving the Republic."
Thank you. I should credit my husband with that line. I tweaked it a wee bit, but he said it during a pretty intense discussion about the state of Israel and this Palestine situation which will likely never be resolved. It is heartbreaking on so many levels and Chen's article really is quite honest about the keen divisions. I wish we could all have such vulnerable conversations about everything. Otherwise we really are just in our own echo chambers and we can only then live with our selfishness and not think about the sacrifices we need to make for others. Sometimes the sacrifice is our own feeling of safety for the sake of familial or communal bonds.
Wow. So the comic bookish psychology we've been culturally cultivating for all these years finally reared its ugly head in the lit world, too... It feels like a final profanation.
Oh, it’s been happening for a while. But I think the Gaza situation is fracturing the liberal left, which has had domination in the art world for a very long time. It’s a very complex issue, and honestly I am a true moderate outsider, as a non-white Catholic first generation American.
Very insightful piece, Zina! And a curious scandal. Definitely agree with this part: "It seems like writers with any type of backbone will need to write with the same amount of fatalism if they truly care about the future of literature, culture, and society." One issue is certainly that there are too many writers who are careerists, not fatalists. I give the careerists a hard time every now and then over at Timeless. :P I just found a biography of Jose Rizal at a bookshop: talk about a fatalistic writer!
Unfortunately, I don't think debate will bring the two sides together at this stage. And I don't think it ever has with Israel and Palestine: the rise of this sizeable faction of pro-Hamas people in the US proves that the sentiment for further debate is almost nonexistent at this point. The reason why neither this nor the partisan divide in the States can be resolved is simple at heart: both sides know too much. And we want pain and suffering to be inflicted upon the other side to punish them for their "sacrilege." Ideally a maximal amount of pain.
How does one combat this kind of socio-political sadism? I'd like to think literature can help.
Yes, I think you are right about the political situation. It is too far gone. But the rest of us outside of this conflict need to be able to process this better. And it is funny that you mention Rizal. I almost brought in some Philippine history but cut it out.
It seems like as a culture we don’t know why literature exists. It’s an essential element to culture and a way for us to understand the past and present, and it preserves our values so that they are passed on to the next generation. A topic for another Substack. Perhaps you can write a post about the meaning of literature in general, or have you done that already? Your posts are very insightful BTW. I don’t always have time to draft comments, but I am impressed by your writing.
Very true about processing. There is much to process and the media complicates things at every turn.
"It seems like as a culture we don't know why literature exists." Truer words have never been spoken! This is generally why I don't pay as much lip service to the (mostly French) trends as other literature lovers do. I think they did more to distance literature from people not only by way of vacuous experiments but by tampering with that basic understanding of why we read literature. It is much better for trends to be topical, I think, than stylistic.
I think we understand it's something we should appreciate, and should defend. Like Gollum, we know that it's "a precious." But as you said, the real 'why' is lost; and this also affects our ability to defend literature. The reasons are multifaceted, but a big explanation, in my opinion, for why we lost our understanding of the 'why' came from losing touch with both our ethnic cultures and Western culture. (And its respective counterparts in Asia and elsewhere) As Jose Saramago wrote: "Writers create national literature. Translators create world literature."
Germans didn't need academics to explain to them why the fairy tales compiled by the Grimm Bros. were important: they had a cultural-psychological understanding of the morals and how they enriched and provided moral order to society. The story itself was the explanation. That's one reason why I place great importance on keeping the flame alive that was lit in the Slavic cultures when literature was a powerful method of bringing down Communist tyranny.
Thanks Zina! I'm glad you find them insightful. And I most certainly enjoy requests for posts, I don't get them often enough! Here and there I have shared my thoughts on that. Like this recent post, where I give a rather utilitarian explanation of the purposes of literature in relation to human happiness. https://timelessfelixpurat.substack.com/p/literature-and-the-road-to-happiness In general I hope my ongoing dystopian literature series is providing more insight into this kind of thing. But a post about the meaning of literature in relation to hard times and challenging conundrums like Israel/Palestine would be very worthwhile. Literature has a lot of meanings, but apart from its most basic - telling a story - each type of meaning would need its own exploration.
And not to worry about the comments, I've had to reduce my comments as well due to time. I just can't seem to write short comments, as this one indicates. :D
What you write is so true and I like how you use the Ides and Caesar's death.
The word fulsome should only be used pejoratively or as satire applied to someone trying to sound sophisticated when "complete" or "detailed" or another appropriate word would have been fine.
That was what I was thinking, so I was really puzzled by that word choice when the retraction came out! I certainly would not have phrased a statement that way.
Same here. Like you, Zina, I re-checked the dictionary. Although they may well have intended to convey the fifth definition you listed, I think we've seen that no one really associates *that* definition with the word!
It’s very clear why the essay created the insanity that it did. There is apparently only one truth that is allowed to be acknowledged. And no Jewish Israeli can hold that truth no matter how they try. Unless perhaps they try to blow themselves up or blow up their country of origin.
Hi Zina, I found your post via Mary L. Tabor and I'm glad I read it - thank you for sharing it, and especially the link to Joanna's essay, which I hadn't read yet. I'm shocked that such a humanist, personal essay caused so much controversy. I'm now inclined to seek out her translations as she seems like a fine human being.
Thank you, Ollie. Yes, Chen sounds like a decent human being who is trying to make the world better. I never would have known about her had it not been for this debacle so perhaps good fruits will come of it. I believe many moderates, including myself, have been cowed into silence for fear of the extremists who dominate platforms. I think this event has been a wake up call for myself, personally. I hope others will join in the good fight to preserve literature and, in the process, human dignity.
Damn, that ending: I can almost hear an ancient horn blaring, a call to arms, to honor authenticity. I’m here for it.
Thank you. Yes, we need courageous writers who aren’t afraid of standing up to the mob. I am glad that major main stream publications called this out for what it was. The way things are going, I was surprised they did, but I was happy to see it. All is not lost. Not yet, at least.
I must say, after reading Joanna Chen’s piece (thanks for the archive link) I’m baffled how any human—let alone editor—could construe the article as anything other than trying to illustrate humanity in inhumane times. The puritanical level of reactionary behavior in this age is not so much a puzzle as a reminder of how necessary honest work is. Keeping on keeping on 🙏🏼
Excellent thoughts. Cancel culture is going to be the death of free speech.
That is the goal.
Yes. But I have to have faith. At least some publications came out strongly against what happened. It is a sign that all is not lost, but we are peering into the void right now.
After reading the essay that created the storm of hysteria, I can only think that nuance is officially dead.
Seriously, right?!
I read Chen's essay and you, Zina, are totally on point. What a world we live in that such an essay would cause resignations and withdrawal of the piece.
The misuse of the word "fulsome" by, horrors, a literary magazine whose owners ought own a dictionary, is only one of the delights of this essay so full of wisdom. I'm off to read the essay that caused so much furor in the midst of this essay that does such a fine job of bringing to the fore Shakespeare's play _Julius Caesar_ while honoring others writing here on Substack.
Fulsome. I wonder if someone on the inside was playing a joke? I cannot believe it. Anyway, it is weirdly apt at this point. And thank you for reading the original essay as well as mine. ❤️
The word "fulsome" is so often misused that the dictionary you quoted now lists the meaning as perhaps the way they meant it. But, really? And the essay by Chen: a stunning example of what literary essays can do, should do and not become a statement of politics.
Thank you, Zina. This was a great read. I especially like your subtitle: "Just because you are stabbing Caesar doesn't mean you are saving the Republic."
Thank you. I should credit my husband with that line. I tweaked it a wee bit, but he said it during a pretty intense discussion about the state of Israel and this Palestine situation which will likely never be resolved. It is heartbreaking on so many levels and Chen's article really is quite honest about the keen divisions. I wish we could all have such vulnerable conversations about everything. Otherwise we really are just in our own echo chambers and we can only then live with our selfishness and not think about the sacrifices we need to make for others. Sometimes the sacrifice is our own feeling of safety for the sake of familial or communal bonds.
Wow. So the comic bookish psychology we've been culturally cultivating for all these years finally reared its ugly head in the lit world, too... It feels like a final profanation.
Oh, it’s been happening for a while. But I think the Gaza situation is fracturing the liberal left, which has had domination in the art world for a very long time. It’s a very complex issue, and honestly I am a true moderate outsider, as a non-white Catholic first generation American.
Very insightful piece, Zina! And a curious scandal. Definitely agree with this part: "It seems like writers with any type of backbone will need to write with the same amount of fatalism if they truly care about the future of literature, culture, and society." One issue is certainly that there are too many writers who are careerists, not fatalists. I give the careerists a hard time every now and then over at Timeless. :P I just found a biography of Jose Rizal at a bookshop: talk about a fatalistic writer!
Unfortunately, I don't think debate will bring the two sides together at this stage. And I don't think it ever has with Israel and Palestine: the rise of this sizeable faction of pro-Hamas people in the US proves that the sentiment for further debate is almost nonexistent at this point. The reason why neither this nor the partisan divide in the States can be resolved is simple at heart: both sides know too much. And we want pain and suffering to be inflicted upon the other side to punish them for their "sacrilege." Ideally a maximal amount of pain.
How does one combat this kind of socio-political sadism? I'd like to think literature can help.
Yes, I think you are right about the political situation. It is too far gone. But the rest of us outside of this conflict need to be able to process this better. And it is funny that you mention Rizal. I almost brought in some Philippine history but cut it out.
It seems like as a culture we don’t know why literature exists. It’s an essential element to culture and a way for us to understand the past and present, and it preserves our values so that they are passed on to the next generation. A topic for another Substack. Perhaps you can write a post about the meaning of literature in general, or have you done that already? Your posts are very insightful BTW. I don’t always have time to draft comments, but I am impressed by your writing.
Very true about processing. There is much to process and the media complicates things at every turn.
"It seems like as a culture we don't know why literature exists." Truer words have never been spoken! This is generally why I don't pay as much lip service to the (mostly French) trends as other literature lovers do. I think they did more to distance literature from people not only by way of vacuous experiments but by tampering with that basic understanding of why we read literature. It is much better for trends to be topical, I think, than stylistic.
I think we understand it's something we should appreciate, and should defend. Like Gollum, we know that it's "a precious." But as you said, the real 'why' is lost; and this also affects our ability to defend literature. The reasons are multifaceted, but a big explanation, in my opinion, for why we lost our understanding of the 'why' came from losing touch with both our ethnic cultures and Western culture. (And its respective counterparts in Asia and elsewhere) As Jose Saramago wrote: "Writers create national literature. Translators create world literature."
Germans didn't need academics to explain to them why the fairy tales compiled by the Grimm Bros. were important: they had a cultural-psychological understanding of the morals and how they enriched and provided moral order to society. The story itself was the explanation. That's one reason why I place great importance on keeping the flame alive that was lit in the Slavic cultures when literature was a powerful method of bringing down Communist tyranny.
Thanks Zina! I'm glad you find them insightful. And I most certainly enjoy requests for posts, I don't get them often enough! Here and there I have shared my thoughts on that. Like this recent post, where I give a rather utilitarian explanation of the purposes of literature in relation to human happiness. https://timelessfelixpurat.substack.com/p/literature-and-the-road-to-happiness In general I hope my ongoing dystopian literature series is providing more insight into this kind of thing. But a post about the meaning of literature in relation to hard times and challenging conundrums like Israel/Palestine would be very worthwhile. Literature has a lot of meanings, but apart from its most basic - telling a story - each type of meaning would need its own exploration.
And not to worry about the comments, I've had to reduce my comments as well due to time. I just can't seem to write short comments, as this one indicates. :D
Fascinating connection between the Ides and a modern cancellation. And what a performance of Antony’s speech! Thank you for that. Wonderful post!
Zina,
What you write is so true and I like how you use the Ides and Caesar's death.
The word fulsome should only be used pejoratively or as satire applied to someone trying to sound sophisticated when "complete" or "detailed" or another appropriate word would have been fine.
That was what I was thinking, so I was really puzzled by that word choice when the retraction came out! I certainly would not have phrased a statement that way.
Same here. Like you, Zina, I re-checked the dictionary. Although they may well have intended to convey the fifth definition you listed, I think we've seen that no one really associates *that* definition with the word!