A reader's manifesto
by B. R. Myers · first published 2002
4mentions
0recommended by
3HN commenters
2009–2022first – last mentioned
100% neutral
Including: A response to critics, and: Ten rules for "serious" writers, the author continues his fight on behalf of the American reader, arguing against pretension in so-called "literary" fiction, naming names and exposing the literary status quo.
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B.R. Myers had a theory on that (in A Reader's Manifesto, not The Cleanest Race): a less literate people are more fond of word games. The common people like to be awed by a skill they don't have; the elites, who can read, like to show off their ability to read…
on “The Benjamin Franklin Method: How to Be a Better Writer” ↗Where I'm Reading From, by Tim Parks The Inevitable, by Kevin Kelly Ideas that Changed the World, by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto A Reader's Manifesto, by B.R. Myers Framed!, by Hari Singh Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman Why Education is Useless, by Daniel Cottom The New Diary, by Tristine Rainer Raising a Happy, Unspoiled Child, by Burton White…
on “Ask HN: What books have you read in the first half of 2016?” ↗…although I love the way he expresses himself in this manifesto, he's hardly alone: Tom Wolfe wrote Stalking The Billion-Footed Beast in the 1980s, which has some not dissimilar themes, and B.R. Myers' A Reader's Manifesto came out more recently; see more about it here: http://jseliger.com/2007/11/12/a-readers-manifesto/ .
on “Good Books Don't Have to Be Hard ” ↗…rest of us to look back to a time when authors had more to say than, “I'm a writer!” — when the novel wasn't just a three-hundred page caption for the photograph on the inside jacket.” - B.R. Myers, A Reader’s Manifesto
on “Science in the age of selfies (2016)” ↗