…our Franzen problems, these days, are pretty minor. We don’t have to worry that Chip Lambert’s hand-wringing is going to reinforce the old, realist modes of romantic reaction. But we do have to worry about what happens to attempts to resist those modes. Power has not merely untoothed the language of the avant-garde, it has learned to speak it. The real problem is Facebook.
Bookforum reviews Tom McCarthy’s Satin Island and discusses the role of the avant-garde in the modern world.