tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6004423696675838467.post961820050096949744..comments2024-03-14T02:24:22.876-07:00Comments on Essay Daily: Talk About the Essay: Purpose of the "Best American" SeriesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6004423696675838467.post-24752030990883224272010-10-12T12:43:13.939-07:002010-10-12T12:43:13.939-07:00Another up and comer is Dzanc Books Best of the We...Another up and comer is Dzanc Books Best of the Web anthology--not specific to cnf (and I'm not sure how much cnf it includes). There's an interesting post on it here: http://emergingwriters.typepad.com/emerging_writers_network/2010/09/why-the-best-of-the-web-is-important.htmlAnderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13162102610439637214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6004423696675838467.post-296124040108028952010-10-06T12:43:51.602-07:002010-10-06T12:43:51.602-07:00I was all about the BAE for several years, then re...I was all about the BAE for several years, then realized that since I had a New Yorker subscription, I'd read about half of it at the time I'd bought the book each year. (Although it seems worth pointing out that there's not a single New Yorker article in BAE 1991.)<br /><br />I did get this year's copy, and it seems like Hitchens is interested in writing about writing: lots here about writers, books, words. And obviously this is his prerogative; god forbid I ever edit BAE. It strikes me, though, that with its reliance on more mainstream sources of essays, the BAE is less like BAP or BASS in the sense that it's not a compendium of small literary magazines--that is, it rarely takes something from a journal of small distribution and gets it to a wider audience. Instead, it takes publication in mainstream literary magazines (such a thing?) as evidence of "best."<br /><br />Here's a question: are we expecting BAE to do what Lee Gutkind's BCNF series is doing?Colinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13882425285151228374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6004423696675838467.post-8494244780408053192010-10-05T13:02:30.868-07:002010-10-05T13:02:30.868-07:00Part of the funk of the BA series seems to be thei...Part of the funk of the BA series seems to be their reliance on the celebrity guest editor. Some of us tune in to see if we're in it, or Notabled. Some of us tune in to see what has been beatified in the anthology. Some read to see what's going on in the genre. And some surely want to know what does Hitchens think the best essays were this year? Which is a way of saying What does Hitchens believe about the essay? I remember thinking this about the DFW-edited year, which was surprisingly short of spectacular, aside from a few essays and his great introduction. Of course I read for all these things.<br /><br />At any rate, I imagine Robert Atwan's job to be iterating a particular sort of sadness year after year. As the curator of the series, he probably must have his own personal picks that he loves. Sometimes they go in. More often, I'm sure, they don't. But one's obliged to play by the rules and let the Famous Guest make the choices. I hope to have a clearer sense of the relationship between the Notables and the Chosen, which is also to say between Atwan and Hitchens, when I finish my survey of this year's and the history of this series. Probably its main function, year on year, is to piss some people off, and to provide texts for classes in the essay. I imagine these two are conflated in many years.Anderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13162102610439637214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6004423696675838467.post-58506313574831397632010-10-05T12:25:01.067-07:002010-10-05T12:25:01.067-07:00I'm sure I'm just reading your post throug...I'm sure I'm just reading your post through what I already believe. I hear you. This is what I gather you're saying--if you want to hear just what Christopher Hitchins thinks, why not just read Christopher Hitchins? <br />That was the best thing about the Best American 2009 with Ander's essay in it. Adam Gopnik did display a bit of diversity.<br />Still, I'm not sure I'm convinced I should run out and buy the 2011 version.Nikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15795554401570611521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6004423696675838467.post-57405654539758195872010-10-05T12:07:49.674-07:002010-10-05T12:07:49.674-07:00I should probably clarify a bit:
I don't thin...I should probably clarify a bit:<br /><br />I don't think the purpose of every anthology is to necessarily display a wide range, and I don't believe an editor should trade quality writing for lesser works in an attempt at diversity, but I do feel that something claiming to encompass all nonfiction writing in the past year could (and should) provide a little more variety.dleghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09480752698054172227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6004423696675838467.post-50001108803069890582010-10-05T12:04:54.178-07:002010-10-05T12:04:54.178-07:00Dleg,
I was talking to ASM when he was in town. I ...Dleg,<br />I was talking to ASM when he was in town. I showed him the Best American Science and Nature from 2009. That seemed more experimental and risk-taking than any regular Best American. I wonder at the essay on writers and writing as the hallmark of "best." If that's best, then who is reading? The whole thing has become very clubby to me: who is reading who and quoting who and selecting who? If you set this opposed to "Best Nonrequired Reading" would any of this be "required"? I don't know. I have yet to buy a copy. I'm pretty sure I don't think I have to, thanks to your insight.Nikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15795554401570611521noreply@blogger.com