Leaving Brooklyn

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The Man Booker’s chairman Howard Davies isn’t the only angry critic these days. I know I’m late to this party, but if you haven’t read Melvin Bukiet’s offensive in the autumn issue of The American Scholar against what he calls ‘Brooklyn Books of Wonder,’ please do. Bukiet, who contributes to our section from time to time, attacks Dave Eggers, Nicole Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer, Alice Sebold and others for creating fictions with a veneer of intellectualism and a core that is all wimpy sentimentality.

Whatever side you fall on, the argument is worth hearing. Too often these days, the only talk that seems to hover around successful books is when the author is going to get a movie deal or appear on Oprah. So it’s a relief to hear something different, even if you think Bukiet’s discussion is over the top. Looking at reactions around the Internet, it’s surprising the degree to which people are bothered by what he says. Can’t they see that this provocation is intentional, all of it calibrated by Bukiet to spark a discussion about contemporary literature?

Nick Owchar