faking it.
I just read an essay in the London Review of Books by John Sturrock in favor of faking one's knowledge of books. It's ok, he says, to talk about books you haven't read. In fact, he goes on to argue that it isn't necessary to read things at all--why limit the bounty of literature into Books You've Read and Books You've Not Read?
Where did this bullshit idea come from? Sturrock cites Pierre Bayard's book Comment Parler des Livres que L'on N'a Pas Lus? (How Does One Talk About Books that One Has Not Read?), in which:
"[Bayard] wants us to know that it doesn't in actual fact matter how much or how little we've managed to read, we can still go confidently ahead and have our say. And the more olympian we can contrive to be in advancing our opinions, the less need there is to back them up with detailed allusions to this text or that."
Fuck that! I can't think of two sentences I disagree with more. No vice that enrages me more than when people talk about things they don't know. Does the offender believe that bullshit makes him appear smarter? That his knowledge and authority can be buoyed by half-informed statements? Who even said that having an opinion about everything is a good quality to have in the first place?! My respect lies with those who contribute on those subjects they know and listen to the subjects they don't. There's too much talking in the world as it is.
Where did this bullshit idea come from? Sturrock cites Pierre Bayard's book Comment Parler des Livres que L'on N'a Pas Lus? (How Does One Talk About Books that One Has Not Read?), in which:
"[Bayard] wants us to know that it doesn't in actual fact matter how much or how little we've managed to read, we can still go confidently ahead and have our say. And the more olympian we can contrive to be in advancing our opinions, the less need there is to back them up with detailed allusions to this text or that."
Fuck that! I can't think of two sentences I disagree with more. No vice that enrages me more than when people talk about things they don't know. Does the offender believe that bullshit makes him appear smarter? That his knowledge and authority can be buoyed by half-informed statements? Who even said that having an opinion about everything is a good quality to have in the first place?! My respect lies with those who contribute on those subjects they know and listen to the subjects they don't. There's too much talking in the world as it is.