8 Comments
Oct 3, 2021Liked by j. elliot

I read somewhere - it might have been The Sound on the Page by Ben Yagoda - that late-20th century writers tended to fall two camps: those who mimicked Hemingway, and those who tried vehemently to escape him. His ‘voice’ was too damn infectious. Which brings to mind another late-20th c. observation that all writers suffer an ‘anxiety of influence’. But it’s certainly true that the prevailing anxieties are different now: social, ecological, etc. Still, I’m not sure I buy Marche’s tidy dichotomy. I’ve not read Rooney, but Moshfegh for one oozes Voice.

Expand full comment