Green’s novel gives a firsthand account of what it is like when a person becomes a brand, when one’s every thought, word and move is scripted, scheduled and scrutinized, ready to be devoured by an audience always demanding more.
In her new book, Meghan Daum recounts how, despite her unimpeachable feminist and liberal commitments, she came to feel not just wrong, but alienated from a new generation of “extremely online” activists.
Can poetry matter? Yes. Can the Catholic writer today matter? Of course. But it is instructive that Gioia’s essay and book title does not ask the latter question.