What you say about the word “pretentious” has always struck me as true, and very weird--we use it mostly against people who aren’t pretending a goddamn thing. It’s a word for keeping people in line. I hate it so much.
Jun 23, 2023·edited Jun 23, 2023Liked by becca rothfeld
jordan peterson is an interesting example of the aesthetics of rationality because he is the only grown man im aware of who has fluidly integrated hourly weeping into his persona. it's extremely incongruous and slightly impressive. he has basically mastered a 'hysterical aesthetics of rationality' or an 'aesthetics of hysterical rationality' and i can't think of anyone else who has seriously attempted this; usually the lack of tears is part of the aesthetic.
that's a great point and a great way to put it. maybe he sort of combines an aesthetics of profundity (which is often hysterical, imo) and one of rationality?
That last sentence stunned me. And thank you more broadly for contributing so many sharp takes to our dull media landscape!
It's ironic that those who profess to love culture the most are the most likely to dismiss anything that hasn't been approved by the right gatekeepers out of hand.
Is pretentiousness really about pretending to like things? Reading your definition, I realised that I've always thought of it as being something a bit different, less calculating and more ethereal - maybe being ungrounded, having reactions to things which are more about who you are or would want to be and less about what makes you happy in the moment.
You describe yourself as not so much liking the things you adored as feeling called to them - I can see that as being pretentious even if you were being absolutely honest about how you felt about them. Liking something has a different (not better or worse, just different) quality to feeling a soul deep connection to something, and it's easier to get unmoored from reality with the latter. Ecstasy is pretentious. That's not a bad thing, it's just something you have to watch out for.
You could argue the word should be applied more widely than it is. I was trying to think of things I've been pretentious about, and there aren't many books or films. Mann's Faustus, possibly. Sports teams I follow, though - there's been a lot of agony, a bit of ecstasy, and not much actual fun. Very pretentious behaviour.
Thanks for letting me know, Hannah. Maybe I'm a dummy but I was unable to find anything there (I was never much of a Reddit user, so could also just be missing it). Anyway, so far CC has been compared to Sappho, Swift, Goethe, among others, so still genuinely curious to read a bit of it. If the book is good, then good for her. I'm pretty skeptical, but also very willing to be convinced by good writing (though not as willing to drop $65 lol)
Maybe not generally, but when a book gets this much coverage, and when specifically the prose is repeatedly lauded as high quality or even equal to some of the masters (as was literally claimed), it would seem to warrant it. Anyway, no biggie, was just curious. No excerpts are available, not even on Amazon or her website.
You can find excerpts on Reddit (r/smolbeansnark, and heads-up that they're not framed in a laudatory way, as you may anticipate from the subreddit name, lol).
Hi Becca. I've been reading your work for a long time. Is there a reason you didn't provide an excerpt of Calloway's book? I keep hearing how wonderful the writing is, but so far no one has provided a considerable block quote to attest to it. Thanks.
Yes! The reason is word count! I had to spend 1000 words of a piece that was supposed to be at most 1800 (and was longer anyway) explaining who Calloway and Beach are :/ one of the hardest parts about adjusting to newspaper writing for me is it’s just way fewer words per piece
What you say about the word “pretentious” has always struck me as true, and very weird--we use it mostly against people who aren’t pretending a goddamn thing. It’s a word for keeping people in line. I hate it so much.
jordan peterson is an interesting example of the aesthetics of rationality because he is the only grown man im aware of who has fluidly integrated hourly weeping into his persona. it's extremely incongruous and slightly impressive. he has basically mastered a 'hysterical aesthetics of rationality' or an 'aesthetics of hysterical rationality' and i can't think of anyone else who has seriously attempted this; usually the lack of tears is part of the aesthetic.
that's a great point and a great way to put it. maybe he sort of combines an aesthetics of profundity (which is often hysterical, imo) and one of rationality?
yes!
That last sentence stunned me. And thank you more broadly for contributing so many sharp takes to our dull media landscape!
It's ironic that those who profess to love culture the most are the most likely to dismiss anything that hasn't been approved by the right gatekeepers out of hand.
<3
oooh the "aesthetics of rationality" - that's really good! captures those dudes perfectly
Great piece, thank you.
Is pretentiousness really about pretending to like things? Reading your definition, I realised that I've always thought of it as being something a bit different, less calculating and more ethereal - maybe being ungrounded, having reactions to things which are more about who you are or would want to be and less about what makes you happy in the moment.
You describe yourself as not so much liking the things you adored as feeling called to them - I can see that as being pretentious even if you were being absolutely honest about how you felt about them. Liking something has a different (not better or worse, just different) quality to feeling a soul deep connection to something, and it's easier to get unmoored from reality with the latter. Ecstasy is pretentious. That's not a bad thing, it's just something you have to watch out for.
You could argue the word should be applied more widely than it is. I was trying to think of things I've been pretentious about, and there aren't many books or films. Mann's Faustus, possibly. Sports teams I follow, though - there's been a lot of agony, a bit of ecstasy, and not much actual fun. Very pretentious behaviour.
Thanks for letting me know, Hannah. Maybe I'm a dummy but I was unable to find anything there (I was never much of a Reddit user, so could also just be missing it). Anyway, so far CC has been compared to Sappho, Swift, Goethe, among others, so still genuinely curious to read a bit of it. If the book is good, then good for her. I'm pretty skeptical, but also very willing to be convinced by good writing (though not as willing to drop $65 lol)
I’m not sure I would drop 65 when you can still buy Henry James for 15 tbh but it’s good for what it is!
Goethe is…a little much
Maybe not generally, but when a book gets this much coverage, and when specifically the prose is repeatedly lauded as high quality or even equal to some of the masters (as was literally claimed), it would seem to warrant it. Anyway, no biggie, was just curious. No excerpts are available, not even on Amazon or her website.
Ok, I see. Hope to see an excerpt sometime, if possible. No one seems to be providing one, unfortunately.
That's not unusual though, is it? Most people are writing with a word limit, and most shorter reviews don't have tons of block quotes in general
You can find excerpts on Reddit (r/smolbeansnark, and heads-up that they're not framed in a laudatory way, as you may anticipate from the subreddit name, lol).
Hi Becca. I've been reading your work for a long time. Is there a reason you didn't provide an excerpt of Calloway's book? I keep hearing how wonderful the writing is, but so far no one has provided a considerable block quote to attest to it. Thanks.
Yes! The reason is word count! I had to spend 1000 words of a piece that was supposed to be at most 1800 (and was longer anyway) explaining who Calloway and Beach are :/ one of the hardest parts about adjusting to newspaper writing for me is it’s just way fewer words per piece