[HN Gopher] In This Essay I Will: On Distraction
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       In This Essay I Will: On Distraction
        
       Author : lermontov
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2023-08-24 23:12 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theparisreview.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theparisreview.org)
        
       | Hlndrblt wrote:
       | Highly recommend to distract yourself with both Gabriel Summers
       | My Wars. Just amazing how much shit some people are willing to
       | eat to land a trick.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuJnqdKbsBc
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLY-kH9n_tY
        
       | kalverra wrote:
       | I was expecting something like advice to avoid distraction, but
       | found the author just as distracted as I constantly am. Not only
       | by his own admission, but the piece itself just weaves in and out
       | of his main point, taking as many detours as the characters in
       | the novel he describes do.
       | 
       | His ultimate point seems to be that distraction should be viewed
       | more as play rather than an impediment to work. I can agree with
       | this conceptually, but wish I could get my inner monologue and
       | capitalism to as well.
        
       | dentalperson wrote:
       | The essay was fun to read and had excellent balance - the author
       | talked about distractions semi-ironically with fine control of
       | its focused structure and pacing while keeping a light and
       | carefree tone that was nonetheless academic. I'd like to learn to
       | write closer to this style. Is regular writing and reading more
       | of these literary journals the way to go about it?
        
         | kalverra wrote:
         | Pretty much. Essays are a great medium for this style, I think
         | of them like a curated conversation almost. You've organized
         | your thoughts in a way that you could present them to a friend
         | in polite conversation; you're trying to convey a point without
         | the need to be pretentious or serious in order for it to be
         | respected. Publications like the New Yorker and the Atlantic
         | are a good place to find lots of high quality ones. Many
         | authors also publish their essay collections as books, my
         | favorite being "Consider the Lobster" by DFW.
        
           | dentalperson wrote:
           | Thanks for the recommendations, I will check them out.
           | 
           | I appreciate the point about seriousness too. One part of it
           | that I liked kind of feels like travel writing from the last
           | century (e.g. John Muir) that goes in and out of various
           | subjects with respect to the main one. On the other hand, the
           | author shows their 'seriousness' and culture by being able to
           | reference and talk about the subject in the context of many
           | other subjects. If I try to do this it probably feels
           | pretentious, so I admire the skill of being able to pull it
           | off.
        
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