Social media is breathing new life into an esteemed literary genre
BIOGRAPHY combines history, psychology, and gossip, and there will always be a market for its insights into the Life (how careers crest or crater) and the Times (the context of each life) of a stranger. Students of US politics, for example, hunger for a fifth volume of two-time Pulitzer-winning author Robert A. Caro’s biography of thirty-sixth president Lyndon B. Johnson. Aside from the jaw-dropping details about Johnson’s personal habits (issuing orders to subordinates while he defecated) and political achievements (the Great Society), there is Caro’s larger theme. In his words, “I always wanted to use the life of a man to examine political power, because democracy shapes our lives.”
Caro may dominate the biography world today, but five volumes, totalling many thousands of pages, about Johnson with publication spread over nearly three decades? In twenty- five years, how many readers will want a heavyweight linear narrative about a Dead White Male? How many publishers will support such a marathon?
Denne historien er fra June 2018-utgaven av The Walrus.
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Denne historien er fra June 2018-utgaven av The Walrus.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype
Some of the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, are throwing their full weight behind AI. On top of the billions spent by big tech, funding for AI startups hit nearly $50 billion (US) in 2023.
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I WAS AS SURPRISED as anyone when I became obsessed with comics again last year, at the advanced age of forty-five. As a kid, I loved reading G.I. Joe and The Amazing Spider-Man.
