NYTimes: Authors Who Don't Tweet "Vulnerable To Parody"

Anne Trubek wrote an essay for the New York Times this week about "Why Authors Tweet."  The story is worth a read, and I'm not just saying that because Trubek namechecks my alter-ego, Emperor Franzen. She begins with the image of authors as aloof, distant presences:

Since the 19th century, the common conception of “the author” has gone something like this: A young man, in his garret, writes furiously, crumpling up papers and throwing them on the floor, losing track of time, heedless of the public, obsessed with his own imagination. He is aloof, elusive, a man whom you know only by his writing and the portrait in his book. Writers themselves have sustained this myth, asking readers to keep their distance from authors, who should remain enigmatic. [But] with the digital age come new conceptions of authorship.

Emperor Franzen in his enigmatic cloakWriters are using Twitter, Facebook, and other digital tools to connect directly with readers. However, some authors, such as Jeffrey Eugenides and Jonathan Franzen, eschew social media interaction and cling to the centuries-old image of the hermetic author. "Their personae [...] are vulnerable to lampooning on false and parody accounts, like ­@EmperorFranzen, that commandeer an author’s voice," Trubek writes.

Read the essay at the New York Times website!

Comments

[Insane Hussein]

And that is said with such love. Demon Bunneh agrees.

[Insane Hussein]

You're ridiculous. Heh.

[Benoit Lelievre]

After reading the books of Franzen, I can hardly judge him for his "I-really-want-to-be-a-genius" persona. Because under that, he's just an old school guy that has difficulties to adapt to the increasingly fast way the world is changing. He's a little judgmental, yes but he's also very honest about it, I find.

[Andrew Shaffer]

@ Benoit - You're right -- I don't think Franzen's anti-technology/social media pose is fabricated or an attempt to distance himself from the reading public. It seems very sincere.

[freelance writing jobs]

looks like guy from starwars! i think this is not a big problem for new year!
freelance writing jobs

[Benoit Lelievre]

@Andrew - Yep. Meanwhile you represent him very well.