![]() ![]() In August a literary fuss broke out over Kate Clanchy’s memoir Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me (2019). The bond between author and reader is replaced by the bond between author and society. Yet what happens when the author is left in no doubt that accurate observation will be considered a social unkindness, an act of discrimination and bias? In those situations, the creator may scribble down somewhat less than what their mind’s eye observes. “You have to describe people as you see them,” he told an interviewer on C-Span in 2005, “and not worry too much about being politically correct.” ![]() For authors like John Updike, precise and accurate observation is almost a sacred responsibility. To be granted access to such perceptions creates an unspoken bond between reader and writer. We are attracted to other people’s observations-it is one of the reasons we read for pleasure. ![]() ![]() “Say what you see.” That was Roy Walker’s advice to contestants on the UK quiz show Catchphrase. ![]()
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