{"id":108121,"date":"2017-02-24T09:03:46","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T14:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=108121"},"modified":"2017-02-24T11:03:37","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T16:03:37","slug":"readability-schmeadability-and-other-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Readability, Schmeadability, and Other News"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_108122\" style=\"width: 1010px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-108122\" class=\"wp-image-108122\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg\" width=\"1000\" height=\"710\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow-768x545.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow-1024x727.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-108122\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Aumonier, <i>Where the Water Lilies<\/i> Grow, 1870.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I\u2019m a man of simple tastes: I take my food edible, my water potable, my words legible. But people can be awfully choosy. Ben Roth has inveighed against the rise of \u201creadable\u201d books\u2014\u201creadability\u201d being an increasingly prevalent form of critical shorthand, a way of telling us which novels go down easy. Roth is advancing\u00a0the latest variant on an ancient argument about whether lit\u2019rit\u2019cher should be fun, or work, or work that tricks you into thinking it\u2019s fun: He writes, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.themillions.com\/2017\/02\/against-readability.html\" target=\"_blank\">Readable books are full of familiar characters, familiar plots, and most especially familiar sentences<\/a>. They are built up out of constituent commonplaces and clich\u00e9s that one only has to skim in order to process.\u00a0Nothing slows you down, gives you pause, forces you to think or savor.\u00a0Not too much description, or abstraction, or style.\u00a0A little bit literary, perhaps, but not\u00a0<em>too.\u00a0<\/em>To praise a book as readable is really just to say that you won\u2019t have to add it to your shelf with the bookmark having migrated only halfway through its leaves \u2026 To praise readability is to embrace the vicious feedback loop that our culture now finds itself in.\u00a0Short on concentration, we give ourselves over to streams of content that further atrophy our reserves of attention.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>But Sarah Perry is having none of it. In Roth\u2019s \u201centertaining little polemic,\u201d she sees aimless fulminating, and she stands up for readability, because someone had to. (Stay tuned for my think piece, \u201cIn Praise [But Gentle, Delicate Praise] of Books That Are Just Readable Enough [While Also Providing a Neat, Salubrious Challenge]).\u201d As Perry notes, very Britishly, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.the-tls.co.uk\/articles\/public\/in-praise-of-readability\/\" target=\"_blank\">P<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.the-tls.co.uk\/articles\/public\/in-praise-of-readability\/\" target=\"_blank\">rose which is \u2018readable\u2019 is prose which is skilled. It is quite useless to argue that there is no objective standard for \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018bad\u2019 where writing is concerned; one need read hardly more than a dozen books before discovering that a bar is set<\/a>. Readable prose is, generally speaking, diligent in its sentence construction, erring from received rules of grammar only deliberately and to a clear effect. Its figurative language functions so that the reader is not left puzzling over a metaphor which creaks like a well-oiled door (you see, I hope, what I did there); its characterization bears some resemblance to people as you and I know them; it is what one might call \u2018ontologically sound,\u2019 creating a world entire from which it does not willfully depart. Yet all these principles the skillful, \u2018readable\u2019 book may wickedly flout, and still remain skillful and \u2018readable.\u2019 \u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Andy Warhol died thirty years ago this week. Fun fact: he knew Trump. Funner fact: he hated Trump. R. C. Baker writes, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.villagevoice.com\/arts\/thirty-years-after-his-death-andy-warhols-spirit-is-still-very-much-alive-9695838\" target=\"_blank\">Warhol\u2014who hobnobbed with both the marginal and the 1 percent\u2014crossed paths with Donald Trump and his then wife, Ivana, in 1981 at a party for the infamous power broker Roy Cohn<\/a>. Later, Andy discussed with Trump the possibility of doing paintings of Trump Tower. \u2018I don&#8217;t know why I did so many, I did eight,\u2019 Andy noted in his diary on August 5. \u2018In black and grey and silver which I thought would be so chic for the lobby. But it was a mistake to do so many, I think it confused them.\u2019 He addressed another possibility further down the entry: \u2018I think Trump\u2019s sort of cheap.\u2019 The deal fell through, but a few years later Warhol was invited to judge a cheerleading audition in the newly opened building. \u2018I was supposed to be there at 12:00 but I took my time and went to church and finally moseyed over there around 2:00. This is because I still hate the Trumps because they never bought the paintings I did of the Trump Tower.\u2019 \u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A new play from the Wooster Group dramatizes <em>Town Bloody Hall<\/em>, a 1971 debate about feminism between Diana Trilling,\u00a0Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, and Norman Mailer, who behaved like a real prick that night, as most nights. Rebecca Mead writes, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/culture\/cultural-comment\/norman-mailers-snarling-encounter-with-feminism-restaged-in-trumps-america\" target=\"_blank\">Mailer\u2019s efforts to dissect feminism, and to assert his own voice over those of the women on the panel, end up with him foiled, fruitlessly battling with himself<\/a>. Mailer thinks that his is the voice of reason. He considers himself misunderstood by Trilling; he finds Greer intellectually incoherent; Jill Johnston isn\u2019t worth engaging with. What is most shocking about revisiting <em>Town Bloody Hall<\/em> today\u2014either in the form the Wooster Group presents it, or without their commentary\u2014is the raw misogyny of the language Mailer feels comfortable in using in the public forum that has been provided to him. When Jill Johnston persists at the podium past her allotted time limit\u2014she is on a roll, and the audience is delighting in her performance\u2014Mailer scolds, \u2018Come on, Jill, be a lady.\u2019 To a female heckler who challenges him\u2014\u2018What\u2019s the matter, Mailer, you\u2019re threatened \u2019cause you found a woman you can\u2019t fuck?\u2019\u2014Mailer drops any affectation of politesse. \u2018Hey, cunty, I\u2019ve been threatened all my life, so take it easy,\u2019 he replies, the word falling like a schoolyard taunt, or a slap across the face.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Alice Spawls takes in an exhibition of post-Internet art in a former Methodist chapel, as one does: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lrb.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/alice-spawls\/post-internet-art\/\" target=\"_blank\">Post-Internet artists are the first generation to have grown up with mass digital technology, and often with parallel selves on social media (they wouldn\u2019t call it \u2018virtual\u2019)<\/a>. They don\u2019t just respond to the Internet but often try to use it as a medium \u2026 Ed Atkins\u2019s piece\u00a0<em>No one is more WORK than me\u00a0<\/em>features a CGI avatar called Dave: a pixelated head (mapped on his own) against a blue screen. All the other video pieces in the exhibition require headphones, so Dave gets to hold court on an eight-hour loop. It\u2019s part aggressive monologue, part whimsy. Snatches echo round the nave: \u2018I don\u2019t wanna get it, This is what I am, It\u2019s just a bit of blood, Do me a favor, can you do that, Read my lips, read my lips, read my lips\u2019 (and we can just about read his lips).\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In today\u2019s roundup: one writer likes readable books; another thinks \u201creadability\u201d is bunk; a bunch more probably don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2512],"tags":[27508,922,17,19381,504,1437,27511,17842,27507,11578,27510,27509],"class_list":["post-108121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-the-shelf","tag-accessibility","tag-andy-warhol","tag-books","tag-donald-trump","tag-literature","tag-norman-mailer","tag-post-internet-art","tag-prose","tag-readability","tag-rebecca-mead","tag-the-wooster-group","tag-town-bloody-hall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Readability vs. Difficulty (That Classic Debate)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In today\u2019s arts and culture news roundup: one writer likes readable books, another thinks \u201creadability\u201d is bunk, and a bunch more probably don\u2019t care.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Readability, Schmeadability, and Other News by Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February 24, 2017 \u2013 In today\u2019s roundup: one writer likes readable books; another thinks \u201creadability\u201d is bunk; a bunch more probably don\u2019t care.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-24T14:03:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-24T16:03:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"909\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\"},\"headline\":\"Readability, Schmeadability, and Other News\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-24T14:03:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-24T16:03:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/\"},\"wordCount\":1031,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"accessibility\",\"Andy Warhol\",\"books\",\"Donald Trump\",\"literature\",\"Norman Mailer\",\"post-internet art\",\"prose\",\"readability\",\"Rebecca Mead\",\"the Wooster Group\",\"Town Bloody Hall\"],\"articleSection\":[\"On the Shelf\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/\",\"name\":\"Readability vs. Difficulty (That Classic Debate)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-24T14:03:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-24T16:03:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"In today\u2019s arts and culture news roundup: one writer likes readable books, another thinks \u201creadability\u201d is bunk, and a bunch more probably don\u2019t care.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Readability, Schmeadability, and Other News\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\",\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Piepenbring\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Readability vs. Difficulty (That Classic Debate)","description":"In today\u2019s arts and culture news roundup: one writer likes readable books, another thinks \u201creadability\u201d is bunk, and a bunch more probably don\u2019t care.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Readability, Schmeadability, and Other News by Dan Piepenbring","og_description":"February 24, 2017 \u2013 In today\u2019s roundup: one writer likes readable books; another thinks \u201creadability\u201d is bunk; a bunch more probably don\u2019t care.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2017-02-24T14:03:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-24T16:03:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":909,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Piepenbring","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Piepenbring","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan Piepenbring","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8"},"headline":"Readability, Schmeadability, and Other News","datePublished":"2017-02-24T14:03:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-24T16:03:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/"},"wordCount":1031,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg","keywords":["accessibility","Andy Warhol","books","Donald Trump","literature","Norman Mailer","post-internet art","prose","readability","Rebecca Mead","the Wooster Group","Town Bloody Hall"],"articleSection":["On the Shelf"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/","name":"Readability vs. Difficulty (That Classic Debate)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-24T14:03:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-24T16:03:37+00:00","description":"In today\u2019s arts and culture news roundup: one writer likes readable books, another thinks \u201creadability\u201d is bunk, and a bunch more probably don\u2019t care.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1280px-james_aumonier_where_the_water_lilies_grow.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/24\/readability-schmeadability-and-other-news\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Readability, Schmeadability, and Other News"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8","name":"Dan Piepenbring","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Piepenbring"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108121"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108131,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108121\/revisions\/108131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}