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Thursday, October 12, 2006
Cruel Use of the Imagination The Princetonian quotes from a College of New Jersey professor's protesting email to Joyce Carol Oates, about her short story, "Landfill" (for details, go here): "You so flimsily disguised the true College of New Jersey story upon which your fictionalized account is based, and used your imagination so cruelly, that it can only add to the overwhelming pain the [Fiocco] family has already suffered." This says it beautifully. There is a form of mental cruelty specific to the writer-as-parasite upon the vulnerabilities of human beings, the writer who feeds on those among us who suffer the most atrocious fates, who enjoys imagining -- assumes we enjoy reading -- degradation upon degradation. Such writers will always tell us that they're providing the "dark truths" (to use JCO's words in her defense) of our lives... truths that we of course are afraid to look at, in denial about, etc., etc. Never let anyone bully you in this way. We all know the difference between fair play and unnecessary roughness. Oates has issued an apology. This is a distinct improvement over an earlier response, when this arrogant woman, 'in an e-mail sent Wednesday to The Associated Press, ... likened the school's criticism to the reaction of Muslim fundamentalists who issued a fatwa, or religious edict, against Salman Rushdie for his "The Satanic Verses."' |