On another note, far too many intelligent, educated literati seem entirely incapable of questioning and challenging THE GIVEN. It is astonishing to me how often statements are issued as if made in gold: “one of the most important quarterlies in the country” or nominated for this or got that award. Why don’t people wonder who, for example, who makes these determinations behind the scenes? Because a board of NEA panelists designated The American Dissident, the literary journal I edit, as “poor” and “low” does not, for example, necessarily mean it is “poor” and “low.” For those fellows, it sure was. But why? Did the journal’s penchant for criticizing bourgeois fellows of the established order have anything to do with it? Certainly! Did the journal’s criticism of the NEA have anything to do with it? Well, let’s allow you to answer that one.

Would Aja, freshly minted from UV’s MFA have the guts and intelligence to question and challenge… UV’s MFA program? Well, let’s allow you to answer that one.

G. Tod Slone, Founding Editor
The American Dissident: Journal of Literature, Democracy & Dissidence
A 501 c3 Nonprofit Providing a Forum for Vigorous Debate, Cornerstone of Democracy
http://www.theamericandissident.org
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742

I don’t think you have to worry about censorship here; rather all comments on VQR, I believe, must be approved for posting to make sure spam doesn’t get through (which this blog gets its fair share of). But dissent and constructive critiques are welcome.

G. Tod Slone Says: May 16th, 2009 at 10:21 pm Problem with the NEA is that it tends to fund bourgeois established-order writers only. It vehemently rejects anyone apt to criticize it or even challenge its staff to debate. It is an autocratic agency that serves the status quo, of which I suspect you form part. Can’t seem to find Ted G’s email address. I wanted to inform him that Inside Higher Ed censored my comments RE the New England Review this week… to see if he’d give a damn… not about the comments but about censorship. Those comments, BTW, constitute my latest blog: http://wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com/. Check it out. You might chuckle at the cartoon I did on Parini sitting on top of a loaf of Wunderbrot. What strikes me most about the American literary scene today is its uncannily anchored bourgeois nature. Few even question and challenge it. Well, will my comments be censored? That seems to be a bourgeois activity of predilection. Or is VQR actually a rare academic proponent of vigorous debate, cornerstone of democracy?
G. Tod Slone Says: May 16th, 2009 at 10:21 pm PS: Evidently Landesman was chosen because he’d continue in the bourgeois tradition of the NEA and Dana Gioia.

What a strange bias in favor of fresh ink, as opposed to quality.

You present a false dichotomy. Why not quality and freshness? Is it your belief that no recent work is quality work?

Additionally, I can’t see why The Odyssey and Shakespeare are in need of government promotion. Most every high school student in the country reads at least one play by the bard. Romeo & Juliet was a smash hit for Leonardo DeCaprio, rendered entirely in the original tongue. The Odyssey is nearly as widely read, and O Brother Where Art Thou? was also an enormously popular movie that, while a reinterpretation, likewise spurred a great deal of interest in a work that hadn’t exactly fallen out of favor. My guess is that the bulk of the NEA staff had already seen a production of or read the script for at least one Shakespeare play, and likewise read at least a portion of The Odyssey. Thus no substantial benefit is likely to have resulted from having them read work with which they were already familiar.

Why subsidize something that’s already doing so well in the free market?

MCG

G. Tod Slone, Founding Editor
The American Dissident, a Journal of Literature, Democracy & Dissidence
A 501 c3 nonprofit organization providing a forum for vigorous debate, cornerstone of democracy,
And for examining the dark side of the academic/literary established-order milieu
http://www.theamericandissident.org
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742