Should that really make headlines?


As someone who, over the years, has enjoyed reading Doris Lessing, I would have preferred to learn that she likes the internet. It's perhaps no great loss that she doesn't - and she surely seems not to understand it very well - but it would have been nice. What's perhaps more interesting, however, is the fact that the reports of Lessing's lecture seem to have all focused on her critique of the internet, even though it's mentioned in only one paragraph, and is dealt with only tangentially, in two, of what is a rather lengthy speech. It's hard not to get the impression that some newspaper person, somewhere, is well aware that "Lessing lashes out at internet" is simply a better headline grabber than "Lessing stresses importance of books".



Go to: The internet and some of its discontents.