SONYA CHUNG

16 December 2010

From an article in The Observer about the New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” series:

Importance to literary culture, however, doesn’t always neatly correspond with importance to literature. By presuming a particular career arc that tends to obscure “late bloomers,” these mostly well-intentioned exercises undercut their usefulness. They presume a particular career arc that tends to obscure late-bloomers; new writers are not necessarily young writers. Instead of highlighting new talent, they inadvertently end up championing precocity and nurturing a culture where early recognition and promise are conflated with achievement.

Phew, THANK you (and thanks to Alex Chee for posting).  I was starting to feel over-the-hill. (“We wanted to nominate you for Prestigious Award X,” my editor said the other day; “but the cut-off age is 35.”)