nobel literature prize winner denounces blogging

Saturday's Guardian (08.12.07 - p. 9) contained Maev Kennedy's interview with Doris Lessing, who was presented with the Nobel prize for literature on Friday. Kennedy describes Lessing as "profoundly pessimistic" about our "fragmenting culture" and what she sees as a decline in literacy. Lessing said,

We never thought to ask how will our lives, our way of thinking, be changed by the internet, which has seduced a whole generation with its inanities sot that even quite reasonable people will confess that, once they are hooked, it is hard to cut free, and they may find a whole day has passed in blogging.

Far from viewing blogging as a waste of time - as something with less value than reading classics or filling one's private diary with words - my personal opinion is that blogging has led to an increase in the number of people both writing and publishing their work to an audience. Never before have so many people had access to so many different authors, nor has it been so easy for writers to make their work known and, importantly, gain feedback from readers. Why toil away unnoticed for years when you can blog?

Comments

[Nick Reynolds]

If I blog about a great work of literature (in my humble opinon) and then other people read it (and I know a few are from my blog stats) is that a waste of time?

http://nickreynoldsatwork.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/absalom-absalom/

[Mike Wendling]

Lessing's comments and her recent interview on Radio 4's Front Row were pretty sad ... she had a go at blogging, supposed illiteracy and feminists (who run some American universities, apparently). It is a shame that Nobel Prizes are often doled out long after a writer's best work is done, and they have all that time to develop into cantankerous old folks.

[JohnofScribbleSheet]

Exactly - Lessing's comments bemused me. I don't know if this was a disgruntled old academic annoyed by the change in the new world. Or a genuine critique. We all know blogging isn't perfect and I doubt she would use her speech to tell us the obvious. All I can say is that it seems like she has lost touch.