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Jun 10, 2021Liked by John Ganz

One point that is sometimes overlooked w/r/t Wallace and irony is that even though he critiqued it in his non-fiction as a "servant of the powers that be," he never abandoned it in his novels and short stories. He was not an exemplar of the "New Sincerity." He wrote highly ironic, satirical prose right up to the end of his life. It's just that his characters tended to be more well-rounded and emotionally vulnerable than some of the cooler, flatter entities you find in, say, a DeLillo novel.

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Jun 8, 2021Liked by John Ganz

Looking forward to Part III, as each of these is excellent; articulating something I've been trying to grapple with for a number of years. It also speaks, though indirectly, with what I see as the failures of George Saunders' output post-2016.

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Jun 8, 2021Liked by John Ganz

The problem with sincerity is that it is (almost always) tainted with hypocrisy. The problem with irony…well, you point out all the angles far better than I could.

But those Isuzu ads. Sheesh. Do you think there is one person in the entire world that saw those and thought I want to buy that car? If I buy this crappy car, it will show my “fearlessness and irreverence.” [I think Isuzu ‘s main business these days is diesel engines.] The ad business is such a funny game… to get a car company to spend millions on lampooning itself is a great hustle. And the “creatives” in advertising are somehow surviving and thriving, even with raise of algorithms Google whose ads that deliver measurable results.

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On the question of kynicism becoming cynicism, I actually think someone like Jon Stewart is a better illustration of what Sloterdijk is referring to than Trump is. Stewart might very well be a practitioner of kynicism, but what he fosters in the culture is the kind of cynicism that enables smart people to chuckle (or groan) knowingly and then move on to their next diversion.

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This is really interesting, thank you for sharing. One note: the quote at the bottom of Part II is fucked up. Idk if you wanna fix cus not a big deal, just fyi. Looking forward to Part III.

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