Emperor-Without-Clothes Dept. (cont’d.): Critic savages ‘pretentious’ US literati

Is the United States a nation of “gullible morons” unable to tell the difference between good literature and pretentious nonsense? Do many literary bestsellers remain unread because they are too “intellectually intimidating”, or because they are unreadable?

These are the questions prompted by a row in the literary pages of American newspapers on what constitutes good writing and whether reviewers are deliberately ignoring readable literature in favour of fashionable pretension.

Among the writers attacked are Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, E Annie Proulx and David Guterson.

The row started with the publication in the latest Atlantic Monthly of “A Reader’s Manifesto”, by Brian Myers. Subtitled “An attack on the growing pretentiousness of American literary prose”, the essay described much of the canon of modern American literature as over-praised and, in some cases, meaningless. Guardian UK