Intellectual jerk-off

Been awhile, yada yada. What prompted me to post was thinking about intellectual jerk-off. In particular the so-called post modernistic deconstructionist movement. Honestly, I'm over it. Have been for quite awhile. And I hope it blows off in the next decade or so, because frankly it's working against good writing. I think good writing is telling a good story. Good writing is certainly not over-emphasizing the format in order to gain the favor of a bunch of intellectual snobs, because you can choose the most creative and innovative format and still tell a very bad story. This seems to be the case with a lot of "contemporaries". And, really, snap out of it. Recently tried reading the latest Barbara Kingslover- "The Lacuna", and her trying to be all meta-narrative and post-mod really bothered me. Seemed like it could've been a good story but the rubbing of the format in my face caused me to throw the book aside. I'm not saying that using these methods episodically and where the circumstances call for them should be avoided. I actually encourage that. But "art for art's sake" isn't all that artful.

I like seeing directness in writing- basically, tell me the story you're going to tell me without wasting my time with pretension. I like seeing a multi-genre approach, because boxing writing up in neat categories is really rather fanatic. And I like basic good ol' writing ability and craftsmanship. That I think is all a truly contemporary piece of writing ought to be- direct, genre-bending, and well executed.

Peace out.