Here are two reviews, both favorable, of books whose mainspring seems to be nostalgia for an old idea of literary community: Adam Gopnik's Americans in Paris and Rachel Cohen's A Chance Meeting. There do still seem to be literary communities that meet in person -- for one there's the Chabon/Handler/Eggers/McSweeney's/Believer group. But what about writers who do their talking about writing on the Net? Is the example of the stationary-but-plugged-in lady in The Machine Stops supplanting the Hemingway model for the literary life?
Posted by Martha Bridegam at May 16, 2004 11:35 AM