The Art of Blogs

I was reading a post last night from Steven Poole (hat tip to Ian Betteridge for the link), essentially arguing that in terms of quality the book is mightier than the essay, which is again mightier than the blog post – because of the time put into it.

There are many blogs that I admire and read regularly, and they often provide brilliant demolitions of official narratives, or superior analysis to that offered by complacent and/or flat-out dishonest “professionals” in the corporate media, or just better jokes. That said, I would take everything I read in the blogosphere last year, load it onto a cheap thumbdrive, and happily swap it, in an instant, for a single copy of Denis Johnson’s mind-bendingly magnificent Tree of Smoke. For me, there’s just no contest.

Why should this be so? Is there any reason why some future Denis Johnson couldn’t publish a masterpiece serially on the internet? I think, actually, there might be. There are factors inherent to the different media that militate against such a possibility, even if they are not cast-iron reasons. It boils down to a combination of:

1 The technology of the medium,
2 The social structure of production in the medium, and
3 The perceived durability of the medium.

To be fair, its a very thoughtful article - but Steven notes...

Any facile comparison of “quality” across different media is asking for a kicking

...and who are we, but always obliging

The word "medium" got me thinking about the link between types of painting and types of writing.

To capture a picture I can use (say) 2 paint mediums - oil and watercolour. I will spend far more time on an oil painting of a scene than a watercolour sketch, but the sketch can contain a brevity of stroke and an immediacy, that captures the essence of a moment that an oil painting never will.

And so it is with Blog posts – they are sketches, they capture a point in time, and hopefully, in a few deft strokes, capture the essence of an argument. Also, short blog pieces are by far the best medium for the use of a bit of wit, to lighten the sometimes more serious (or more pompous) points being made.

So, when Steven says:

The very permanence of the physical book format has for centuries pushed writers to raise their game. The prospect today of blogging elbowing out other forms of writing is comparable to the prospect of an 18th century known to us only through its pamphlets, and none of the great long-form satires and novels. That would still keep a few houndstooth-jacketed academics in business, but would anyone else really care?

I know that he is in essence right, but I also know every so often an exhibition - a collation - of Gillray cartoons, or scandalous broadside ballads comes along to educate, entertain and amuse........and I am always reminded of the great sketch watercolourists of days gone by, that can still tell a compelling story.