Literary Links: pollytiks v. fiction

So, um, yes, the debate about Politics and Fiction rages on at Overland's blog. I don't have too much more to say about it than what I've said there. My bone(s) of contention at this point is basically twofold: 1) I don't think authors have a moral/ethical imperative to write about politics and 2) I don't get why this whole argument is so focused on authors anyway; I think there are systemic issues regarding the dissemination of fiction that are much larger than authorial intent, basically.


OK, some links for this week:

• Jeff Sparrow's 'What We Talk about When We Talk about Politics'. Obviously.

• Re: the above, why not read Mayakovsky's 'Order No. 2 to the Army of the Arts' (1921)? I love this poem even though it calls for exactly what I'm arguing against (which, weirdly, kind of supports my argument about literature and potentiality).

• There is, of course, another possibility in the above debate that's been left more or less unexplored: anyone for a spot of désoeuvrement?

• I'm late on this but it's a previously unpublished David Foster Wallace story, so whatever.

• Just say no to NaNoWriMo.

• Joshua Cohen has quickly become one of my favourite reviewers eva. This one on Doc Zhivago doesn't contain his trademark weisenheimerism, but, you know, it's still really good.