Everyone is playing the careerist game. They’ll need blurbs in the future, etc. The literary world is full of politicians and people angling for the few precious spots in the “hip” magazines. Part of the game is knowing when it’s allowable to trash someone and when it isn’t.

It's so obvious when a writer is pulling his punches. Lots of books are branded as edgy when it's really just a writer throwing acceptable jabs and then people pretending they've been hit with a haymaker. Publishing really is like pro wrestling--everybody's in on it.

Coffee shop playing Jeff Buckley covering Dylan. Productivity plummeting after every song. Too wistful. Should be illegal.

Literary men are so well behaved. Tranquil and docile, irrelevant. The good boy era. It's almost nice.

When someone asks me to recommend a Dylan album, my usual recommendation is:

Daytime album: Love and Theft

Nighttime album: Time Out of Mind

What do you usually recommend to a Dylan newbie?

Sometimes I feel bad for nepo babies or rich kid artist types. They'll never know the freedom of having parents who don't know anything about 'culture' and can't be disappointed. Or are just happy you didn't end up in prison. It's all house money.

The past few weeks there’s been this banging coming from the house behind me. My neighbor put up a punching bag, so I figured that was it—annoying but ultimately harmless. The family is new to America, like a lot of my neighbors in Miami. Punch away, I thought. But the banging

I'm on the side of the writer as disengaged flaneur. But I have great respect for the obsessive careerists who operate on brute force. No politics or ideology, just an absolute America hunger for the top of the mountain. Tip of the hat, psychos.

Best debut novel of 2024 so far?

The writers who drop a book every ten years and then disappear again really figured it out. Atticus Lish, Garth Risk Hallberg, the Art of Fielding dude. Get that big deal and then go fishing or whatever for a decade.

The books would get better immediately if writers/agents/editors stopped being ashamed. The rich kids are scared of being found out. The poc writers are insecure. Editors make sure to pick the “correct books.” An entire industry running on shame and insecurity.

If a novel is being pitched as an “important book,” there’s a 99% chance you’re going to get a mediocre reading experience. Once it’s pitched as a teaching tool by the humorless HR types, get ready for artless slop. Especially if it’s a debut.