As The Art Critic Turns, Lee Siegel Suspended
The sacking of Lee Siegel requires virtually no commentary. For those who have never heard of him, Siegel, quoting his bio from a book review in The Nation, "writes about television for The New Republic and on art for Slate. His writing has also appeared in publications from New York Times and The New Yorker to Radical History Review and Tikkun. In 2002 he won the National Magazine Award for reviews and criticism."
What else should you know? Siegel wrote this, which is kinda weird. Oh, and the guy makes enemies like Hostess pumps out these...
The gloating blog masses include:
- Modern Kicks
- Kriston Capps
- Tyler Green
Three independent thoughts...
1. Doesn't the announcement on The New Republic website's remind you of when serial fictionalist Stephen Glass got caught, and all the onetime boy wonder's work mysteriously disappeared from the archives?
2. Hasn't everybody figured out how easy it is to trace phony posts? Do real writers need that kind of an ego boost?
3. Going back to point #1, why does TNR have to remove all of Siegel's work? Are we supposed to forget he was ever published? Doesn't the magazine know that actual paper copies still can be found in the library? And strangely, expunging Siegel's TNR history makes one almost feel badly for the offender. Posting phony praise on your own blog is a sad measure of insecurity. But should it mean that all you wrote as a legitimate critic is gone?
