[padg] FW: Re: Nicholson Baker update from NYT

["Paula De Stefano" <pd3@xxxxxxx>]

Nicholson Baker's book was extremely arrogant and self-serving. He writes
like the fiction writer he is. His hyperbolic, unabashed manipulation of
facts to serve his own purposes represents unethical behavior in journalism
and scholarship. His research was impeccable, but he deliberately
misconstrued and misrepresented what he found in the literature, and in his
interviews, for selfish purposes.  He was angry, he can't be faulted for
that, but he did not choose a balanced scholarly approach to report on his
research, he took the opportunity to self-righteously distort the facts to
appear far worse than they were. For those of you cited in his book, did he
represent what you said in the spirit that you said it? Or did he excerpt
what you wrote and alter its meaning to conveniently correspond to his
argument? Principled writers do not write like that. That's not ethical
scholarship! I don't think the reviewers that reviewed Double Fold spent 5
minutes checking his research.

I wholeheartedly dispute his "wonderful admiration for researchers." He may
pose as such, but his behavior speaks louder than words. If you've never
read Janet Malcolm's book, The Journalist and the Murderer--do, it's a true
story and a fabulous exposé on the unethical behavior of journalists. In my
opinion, she writes of Baker's ilk.

Paula De Stefano
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Frost, Gary [mailto:gary-frost@xxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 12:05 AM
To: padg@xxxxxxx
Subject: [padg] Re: Nicholson Baker update from NYT

I don't understand why practitioners can't be more objective about Nicholson
Baker's critique of preservation. In my view he questions routines well. I
think our problem is that we tend to defend routines rather than our overall
goals. 

For example, it is likely that we are actually uncertain of our passion for
the continuing role of tangible collections in the context of their digital
delivery. This is the very moment when we can act as rare advocates for the
mastering and back-up function of artifacts. Are we too busy, or too
distressed or too conflicted?

I had a conversation with him in a bar near Williamsburg Virginia. It was
just after his keynote presentation to the Society for History of
Authorship, Reading and Publication. He has a wonderful admiration for
researchers and for books and book studies. I think he is just a different
kind of preservation worker. 

Gary Frost