There’s one last thing from NOVEL that I must post as it represents something of a little internal spat between different factions at the NY Times. Julie Salamon, who wrote the rather friendly piece at the beginning of the show, writes a summation that takes issue with the rather hostile op-ed that appeared three weeks ago.
“Only a handful of people dropped by daytimes, but the readings drew audiences of a few dozen. There was much press coverage, including an editorial in The New York Times saying “The installation trivializes the nature of writing.”
The writers said they were undeterred by the criticism. “The time pressure and unexpected attention were incentives,” said Mr. Sidhu, interviewed a few hours before the experiment was over. “People were expecting you to finish a book, something you weren’t utterly embarrassed by.” Readers can judge from excerpts Mr. Sidhu and the others posted on blogs at fluxfactory.org/otr/fluxnovelproject.htm.”