http://robertfay.com/2012/02/batumans-take-down-of-mfa-literary-fiction/

by Jane Ciabattari | Jan-06-2012

Friday, January 20 7 pm.

“Criticism Beside Itself”
Center For Fiction
17 E. 47th St. • 212.755.6710
Cosponsored by Bookforum and the National Book Critics Circle

What is the proper genre of critical writing? How does criticism inform, inflect, and even colonize other forms of writing like biography, nonfiction, literary journalism, and fiction? Join us for a lively discussion of criticism today, with panelists Elif Batuman (a 2010 NBCC finalist in criticism for her collection The Possessed), novelist and critic Rivka Galchen (Atmospheric Disturbances), and critic and NBCC board member Mark Athitakis, with hosts Michael Miller of Bookforum and NBCC president Eric Banks. Cosponsored by Bookforum and the National Book Critics Circle.

[. . .]

Elif Batuman (above right) is writer-in-residence at Koç University in Istanbul. Her first book, The Possessed, was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award, and a runner-up for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award (for upholding the dignity of the essay form!). It was also longlisted for the 2011 Guardian First Book Award. The Possessed did not actually win any of these awards. Nonetheless, it has been translated into several languages. Elif sometimes writes for magazines.

[. . .]

http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/coming-up-january-20-criticism-beside-itself

I was truly grateful to see your inclusion of other voices, each in their own way struggling to reveal the past, esp. the implications from the sea-change shift to agriculture. And it seemed to me that you too were affected by the uncertainty of its effect on humanity. Indeed, world views are riding in the balance of the outcome, whatever it turns out to be and however it might change in the process. However might I add the obvious thought that we might never know what it was that brought us to our present circumstance from Urfa or any of ancient man sites. The evolution of culture and societies is a much more difficult unknown to unravel, largely because they are products of the mind and we simply do not have the tools to detect these subtle but profound effects on the behavior of ancient societies. We largely rely on physical evidence, inference from our own experience, and intuition/ imagination to carry us to a conclusion, however fragile. We are in an explosive period in the study of biology, botany and brain science, and more importantly how they are connected. It will be truly fascinating to see their effects, if any, on deciphering ancient societies. And we surely need the writings of you and others whose observations are telling us to be steady and careful, humble and open, balanced.

Thank you, once again,

Dean Kastel

http://www.full-stop.net/2011/12/14/interviews/helen-stuhr-rommereim/elif-batuman/

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http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/12/19/111219fa_fact_batuman