The Millions

Curiosities

Old Writers, New Media

1. Jon
   at 11:36 am on August 30, 2011

   What exactly do you find off-putting about each?

2. Nick Moran
   at 11:39 am on August 30, 2011

   I found the intersection between modern technology and classical authors a bit off-putting, for lack of better phrasing. It’s incongruous, to me, to see one of the great Russian writers on YouTube, a medium I associate most often with videos of people’s cats. The Faulkner recordings are a bit less bizarre in that respect.

3. Jon
   at 7:18 pm on August 30, 2011

   I can see your point but it is because the video isn’t of cats that I’m glad it is there. Although the video exists on YouTube now, it was initially filmed during Tolstoy’s lifetime (as the Faulkner recordings were done during his). Without the internet, I’d have to travel to Virginia to hear Faulkner. I’d have to track down the documentary containing the Tolstoy footage (if I even knew it existed) and get it through Interlibrary Loan or something. It’s the resurrection of talent from the past, faint glimmers though they may be in the darkness of cat videos, that makes YouTube worthwhile.

4. Nick Moran
   at 1:49 pm on August 31, 2011

   You won’t hear any disagreement from me.

   My off-the-cuff remark was referring to how substantial content is harder to find on the internet than, say, a video of Maru the Cat. Takes more digging, or a better curator. For all its charms and potential, the internet (like many other things) often buries its gems beneath troves of trivial novelties.

5. Nick Moran
   at 1:54 pm on August 31, 2011

   But you’re right to point out that “off-putting” was sloppy phrasing on my part. I usually write these Curiosities before I’ve had my coffee.