Reading in a Bubble
In the The Guardian, Jessica Crispin wrote a piece entitled “Enough David Foster Wallace, already! We need to read beyond our bubbles.” Here are the two parapgraphs that I think highlight her thesis:
For a very long time, the literary gatekeepers pretended their taste was objective, not subjective. And because the traits of those gatekeepers, who were not just white men but Ivy League-educated, upper-middle-class white men located in cultural centres like New York and London, were predictably consistent, they often reached consensus. These are the books that are important. No really, just these ones. Those other writers are “minor”.
What they deemed important were mostly books that reinforced their worldview, that were also written by Ivy League-educated, upper middle-class white men; men like David Foster Wallace. Or Jonathan Franzen or Philip Roth, or any of the other writers whose importance we’ve all had explained and explained until we wanted to scream Ack! into a pillow.
My English professor in college recommended a tiny little book by Wallace called This Is Water. So yes, Wallace was recommended to me by a white man (class and education unknown). Now, the question is, would I deem his books important? No. While I loved This Is Water and enjoyed his essay collection Consider The Lobster and liked some of what I read in Infinite Jest and Broom of the System, Wallace would not make my you-need-to-read-this-book-by-this-author list. Here are five books by five authors that do make the list.
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- Open City by Teju Cole
- Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Crispin’s piece somewhat overgeneralizes, but I do think (based on narrow observations) that many of us “read the stuff that fits our bubbles.” I make a concentrated effort to read books outside of my purview (though I am not sure if it is even a concentrated effort. I am just curious reader.) Hence the list above that includes authors with eclectic backgrounds.
