Monday, February 26, 2007
Walter Kirn
Walter Kirn spoke at Powell's the other night, and while the book, which ran entirely on Slate.com as a serialization, sounded moderately entertaining, Kirn's talk, and enthusiasm for online writing was as energetic as the crowd listening was flat.
Booklovers aren't game to hear stories about the death of books, and the Thumbsucker author didn't make it any too palatable. He also talked about our willing secession of rights to privacy, and how some mammalian impulses cause us to project feelings onto celebrities like, well, celebrities. And as it turns out, the celebrities don't even care.
Obviously he doesn't know all the celebrities, and therefore has no idea whether Jennifer Garner, as one example, cares. I might argue she does. One example.
A round-up of the discussion ran in today's Talk of the Book Town feature in The Oregonian.
COLLECTORS NOTE: This is the first, maybe even only, column to bear the nonstandard "Stanten" spelling of my surname. Not to be confused with "Santen" or with the "Suntan" variation that ran periodically for five years of Willamette Week articles. Or with "Stanton" or "Santeen," saltine, satan, or as one woman asked today, "Santend"?
Booklovers aren't game to hear stories about the death of books, and the Thumbsucker author didn't make it any too palatable. He also talked about our willing secession of rights to privacy, and how some mammalian impulses cause us to project feelings onto celebrities like, well, celebrities. And as it turns out, the celebrities don't even care.
Obviously he doesn't know all the celebrities, and therefore has no idea whether Jennifer Garner, as one example, cares. I might argue she does. One example.
A round-up of the discussion ran in today's Talk of the Book Town feature in The Oregonian.
COLLECTORS NOTE: This is the first, maybe even only, column to bear the nonstandard "Stanten" spelling of my surname. Not to be confused with "Santen" or with the "Suntan" variation that ran periodically for five years of Willamette Week articles. Or with "Stanton" or "Santeen," saltine, satan, or as one woman asked today, "Santend"?
Labels: fiction, Oregonian, Talk of the Book Town, Walter Kirn
