Writing & Writers

Philip Roth, another of the fine writers who have somehow escaped the attention of the Swedish Academy, is about to turn eighty. Newark, his version of Kafka's Prague, is honoring him with many events, and there is a documentary film, "Philip Roth: Unmasked," which will be screened by PBS March 29. (It has already had a brief showing in a New York theatre.)

Adam Gopnik, writing in The New Yorker on Roth and the current state of writing, says "The future of writing--or, at least, the future of making a living by writing--seems in doubt as never before. Thanks to the Internet, anyone can write, and everyone does....It has never been easier to be a writer, and it has never been harder to be a professional writer. And yet...writing still matters."

We read the other day that Elmore Leonard's first novel was rejected by seventy-six publishers before it made its way into print. Today, one wonders if there are seventy-six publishers left to send out rejection slips.

But--writing still matters.