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“The fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes is brought up time and again, a conspiracy to dupe someone, a pretense designed to make the innocent or gullible look stupid. It’s a narcissistic paranoia; most artists don’t have the time or money to bother playing such a prank and are far more concerned with spending their days pursuing ideas in the studio, however absurd those ideas may appear to others.”
― Pretentiousness: Why It Matters
― Pretentiousness: Why It Matters
“Pretension is a question of optics. The pessimist sees pretension as a sham. The optimist views it as innocent, tragicomic, an excess of effort. Like watching amateur actors in a local village play, a wooden or overambitious performance might not be deliberate, It could be deeply sincere; the am-dram troupe putting everything they’ve got into their production. Pretentiousness resides in someone’s lack of awareness that their ambition might exceed their capability, or inability to laugh about one’s own limitations.”
― Pretentiousness: Why It Matters
― Pretentiousness: Why It Matters

“He told me it didn't really matter if it was true, it was what the story MEANT that was so important.”
― Batman: Noël
― Batman: Noël
“Claims to ordinariness and salt-of-the-earth virtue—“slumming it,â€� as it’s crudely called—are themselves pretentious. The assumption that dropping your aitches or asserting a love of a cheap beer over a fine wine, or processed cheese over a Parmesan, will make you seem unspoiled or somehow more gritty is classic downwardly mobile play-acting.”
― Pretentiousness: Why It Matters
― Pretentiousness: Why It Matters
“Sontag holds that camp reveals itself as things age. “When the theme is important and contemporary, the failure of a work of art may make us indignant. Time can change that. . . . Thus, things are campy, not when they become old but when we become less involved in them, and can enjoy, instead of be frustrated by, the failure of the attempt.â€� Accusations of pretentiousness fade the older something becomes. As works of art or styles of dress recede into the past, the historical forces that shaped them become legible. Familiarity lets us regard them fondly.”
― Pretentiousness: Why It Matters
― Pretentiousness: Why It Matters

A group for reading along and discussing the books featured on the Overdue Podcast. Overdue is a podcast about the books you've been meaning to read. ...more

life's too short to read crappy books. this is why readers' advisory exists. feel free to join if you are looking for "a book like____" or "a book tha ...more

A group to chat about SFF books. Authors and readers welcome. I might post about my books and the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off too. I plan on maki ...more
David’s 2024 Year in Books
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