Book
Robert Coover attests that we are encountering the "end of books," and I must say this class provides a compelling support for his argument. We are moving away from the novel, so he says. Before the novel was, what? Epic poetry and amores? Classical treatises? It exists as a tradition of history, to be played with, but not replicated, by modern authors. Will the novel pass into this level of distance? The novel which we have credited as the major literary form of fiction and even nonfiction writers. What of genre? What of tonality? How will these be represented, and in what form?
I overheard an old man from the English depart yesterday saying that emojis were the new tonality, and that they took away all sincerity to communication. The woman next to him disagreed somewhat, she chimed that emojis are the new sincerity. I tend to agree. But as I'm 'Bold textworking on my novel this weekend, how can I combat the fear of the novel leaving me?
