"The symptoms of this malady, named after the longtime editor of Harper’s, Lewis H. Lapham (now of Lapham’s Quarterly), include an elevated, orotund, deeply ironic prose style that, in severe cases, reveals almost nothing about what the topic is or what the author wishes to say about it except for a general sense of superiority to everyone and everything around."
—Michael Kinsley, who both succeeded and preceded Lewis Lapham as editor of Harper's, explains "Lapham's Disease." The diagnosis does not appear to be new.
Friday, January 6, 2012
12
Didn't Willie Morris precede Lewis Lapham?
I prefer this ailment to its sister virus, "Thought Catalog Disease," which involves an almost anti-verbal, sloppy, indifferent-to-craft style that... well, you get the picture.
@MichelleDean Be careful or you'll rile up the 20 year olds.
@MichelleDean I thought Thought Catalog was already suffering from Tao Lin Disease.
There's also the disease where you seem to take a very strong position that, when carefully examined, can also plausibly be interpreted as a cheekily ironic critique of the initial position and, indeed, our very willingness to assume the writer was taking that position in the first place.
Mmmmmm...prole meat.
Lapham is a hundred times better than that neurotic geek Kinsley.
I wish.
I went to one of Lapham's readings many years ago and somebody asked him about DFW, who was beginning to enjoy a meteoric reputation at the time. Lapham looked down and smiled, looked up and sort of gestured vaguely and said, "Well…" and looked down again and smiled.
Mystery Date:
Lewis Lapham + Eva Swan.
OK, so Michael Kinsley was like 30 when he was booted from Harper's. He's 60 now. He has had MY WHOLE LIFE to work on the delivery of this joke, and he opens with "Zounds, Watson"?