Criticism Free read
In Defence of the Difficult Book
We have been sold the idea that good writing goes down easy. Some of the best refuses to.
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Difficulty has become a kind of insult — a book is ‘hard work,’ as though work were the opposite of pleasure. But some books are difficult the way a mountain is difficult, and the view is not available by any easier route.
The closer we looked, the less certain the easy conclusions became — which is usually the sign that a thing is worth the looking.
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