As the trip I'm on may be a long one, I plan to provide as a distraction an impromptu tale-- a very short novel if you will. I don't know where it'll go. All I have so far is the title: "The Kidnappers." I expect the story to arise from my dreams; from my subconscious dreads; from past stories I once heard, long ago: from my nightmares. Stay tuned.
(Either this, or I'll give you my philosophy of literature and chess!)
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Did you see this crap?
http://www.salon.com/books/int/2005/03/09/eggers/index.html
Several notes:
1. The Salon writer, David Amsden, mentions that he has written an article for The Believer. Fine, disclosure is good. But not only does Amsden not even consider that this relationship might still color his approach to the subject (who he clearly wants to like him), but he then tries to actually use that fact to set himself up as a victim of imaginary critics, whom he (tellingly, projectingly) imagines criticizing him for sitting around with the Dave in front of a fire. This is aspirational journalism at its most hacktacular;
2. Eggers compares critics of The Believer to the miltary crushing an anti-war movement. Yes, he actually says that. This is Eggers' ongoing attempt at Narcissism By Proxy: his cynical, for-profit publishing company he compares to the "anti-war movement" and people who criticize it (or the editor's stupid "snark watch" or their hatchet job against the ULA by plagiarist Tom Bissell) is, yes, the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!
He's quite the poor little rich kid.
He also mentions that he doesn't want to get into talking about criticism too much, because that leads to "crazy people". Gee, wonder who he could be talking about?
Absent from any of this discussion, of course, is his own vicious, bullying attacks against others (the insane attack on Amazon was just the tip of the iceberg). Throughout the article Eggers constantly references one of the guiding principles of his life, which is "do as I say, not as I do." He chides others for not helping others, then says he never did either. He rants against crazy haters, yet few have the rep in the pub world for being such a crazy hater, bullying stockroom boys and book clerks and editors with his scumbag/rich kid snarl.
He's such a fucking cunt.
After the Believer fracas, I gained a reputation among friends as an Eggers hater. A lot of them apologize for owning his books. I don't care. I don't know the man, only that his writing is not for me. Still, it's hard not to break something when he gets to the bit about "crazy people." What kind of writer is afraid to talk about "crazy people"? Jackass. Aw, crap... here I go again.
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