Modern writers have been corrupted by the desire to be published in The New Yorker. Similarly, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and similar venues have destroyed the short story. Today, modern short story writers are technically infallible; they follow an impeccable template of “How a Short Story Should be Written” — but the gimmicks, the registered competence, the learned cadence and skillfully crafted creativity — fail to produce the brilliance of the art. We are killing the short story by pure, unadulterated competence. Read one short story by William Trevor. Question: Did he learn how to write by attending the Iowa Writers’ Workshop? Did Hemingway produce The Old Man and the Sea by taking a class on “How to Write?” The technical competence, the educated writer, the factory production of good writing — it all fails to tell the story told simply. Perhaps the fault lies not only owing to the plenitude of college courses, all somewhat entitled, “Creative Writing”, but to the fact that religion has lost its hold upon the culture. Let me explain: No, this is not to argue that “religion”, per se, directly contributed to good writing. Rather, it is to argue: A close inspection of every good story always involves the struggle between good and evil; of a tension of hubris following upon self-destruction; of the pull between one’s conscience and the struggle to avoid sin. Yet, how can there be any tension left, when nothing is shameful, everything is permitted (Dostoevsky’s shadow?),...
Nigel Farage has been condemned for falsely suggesting five men arrested on suspicion of terror offences near RAF Fairford were Iranian. The Reform UK leader suggested the incident, which saw five...