We're Not Who You Think We Are
Kevin Kelly’s recent New York Times article, “Scan This” (link via the Updike article below), really struck a nerve. While the publishing industry has dismissed most of the article in public — the dismissal that both rallied the industry and showed its naivete was John Updike’s BEA speech, the literary equivalent of “bring ’em on” — behind the scenes, there’s been a lot of soul-searching and slow, literary-style reaction.
Ah, the publishing industry. Even its outrage comes at its own pace.
One of the privileges of advanced age is the freedom to say whatever you want to whomever you want. One of the dangers of saying whatever you want, of course, is the risk that you’ll look like a clueless blowhard. Case in point: John Updike at BookExpo America 2006.
While ostensibly promoting his new book Terrorist, Updike decided to take the opportunity to remind the publishing industry that they remain, if I may quote Kirk, firmly mired in “Nixon-era technology”. Updike railed, specifically, against Kevin Kelly’s New York Times Magazine article from last week — the article, not ironically, titled “Scan This Book!”