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Comment by throwanem | Hacker News Reader

This reads as if the author set out to make a point about modern traditionalism, got distracted with Renaissance literature halfway through, and then gave up on the piece with three or four paragraphs still to write.

It's a shame. Something a little trenchant about the vacuity of "forward unto the past" would've made a better read than this.

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I agree it seems pretty unfocused. To be fair I read it quickly so I might be missing something, but I'm struggling to pull a thesis out of this piece.

At the beginning it seems like it's trying to make a point about society becoming better after eliminating superstition, but then it mostly just goes through a history of Faustian bargains in literature before ending with one paragraph that implies that the modern equivalent is EULAs in software.

EDIT: I just realized from the URL that this is supposed to be a book review? I probably didn't notice because the book isn't mentioned in the title or even in the article until four paragraphs in.

Yeah, on reflection my initial reading was a little unfair. The focus makes sense given what it is, although it still feels odd to start out with what sounds like it wants to be a critique of a critique of materialism.

I don't know if I'm missing something about the Newyorker but every article I've tried to read loses me in a similar chaos of literary references and excessive thesaurus usage.

I can't tell if I'm illiterate or it's overhyped.

That type of essay often works like that: start with a few paragraphs that are interesting to a broader audience, write a book review while showing off your literary chops, and then tie it together sloppily the end.

It's like they need to continue the book review genre, and add the required literary flourishes, and have a book review at its core.

Especially funny since he calls Goethe's Faust incoherent.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who found the title and content disconnected. Seems like the author got a chance to talk about their interest in literary history by adding a paragraph at the end and an enticing title.

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