What do we truly value in a writer of fiction? Is it moral guidance, political instruction? Is it an ability to capture a collective mood or identity – in the manner of a “national novelist” – or articulate the concerns and character of a particular cohort: the “voice of a generation”? Is it, as DH Lawrence has it in “Why the Novel Matters”, an ability to foster our “instinct for life”? The lesson of Martin Amis seems to be that it’s language above all else.
The Prison Mirror is one of the oldest prison newspapers in the country, running since 1887. Publications like this aren’t common, but in an era where many journalism outlets in the free world are struggling to thrive amid scores of layoffs, journalism behind bars is actually growing.
From our current perspective, the existence of irrational values does not seem too surprising because we are confronted with this fact at a young age. But we can only imagine what this realization might have prompted some 2,500 years ago. It could have turned the mathematical worldview upside down. So it’s no wonder that there are so many myths and legends about its discovery.
The following week, we’d lost about half the original crowd. A week after that we had six people. And then, by the fourth meeting, when I arrived with the booze and the books, it was just one guy waiting for me. His name was Michael.
The Uptown Local shows Leadbeater embracing Didion’s maxim – even if it involves painfully recounting his own fractured life. Through expressive and exposing prose, he charts parallel journeys – one spiritually flourishing in Didion’s private home, the other emotionally unravelling thanks to his home life – that never reconcile in the end. The final lesson offered is Leadbeater’s own addendum to Didion’s famous words: sharing our stories, both of suffering and of joy, is what truly keeps us living.
This is setting up the troubling precedent that some apps are holier than others: Is iMessage sinful? Do I need to mention Candy Crush in my confession? Does Slack walk in the light of the Lord?