Impressions and Expressions of Ijon

I really enjoyed reading Perry Anderson's LRB essay on the historical novel. It provides an interesting theoretical discussion of the genre, which I found insightful. Be sure to also read the reader comments at the end.

Also enjoyed Prof. Mark McGurl's well-argued response to Elif Batuman's review of his book The Program Era, on the rise of the "creative writing" classes.

I found McGurl's rebuttal of Batuman's seemingly gut-reaction, mandarin rejection of modern fiction convincing. Perhaps I've been guilty of an unthinking Batuman-like attitude myself. Reading McGurl, I notice that I do, in fact, approve of quite a few modern fiction authors, and this without being at all well-read in contemporary fiction.