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Baker



Thomas Heard writes:

> Anybody hear much about Baker BEFORE his crusade began?

(1) There are, as readers of this list know, lots of reasons to disagree
with *Double Fold* on its merits. Somehow, the spectacle of *ad hominem*
attacks on Baker himself is *not* the most edifying or productive prospect
one can envisage of expressing disagreement with his work or his views.

(2) The answer to Mr. Heard's question happens, in any case, to be "Yes."
As someone else has already pointed out on this list, he is an excellent,
well-known, and important novelist. He is, in addition, the author of an
extremely interesting book about authorship (*U & I*). And he is a
journalist for (among other places) *The New Yorker*. Walk into any
bookstore. You don't actually need to do anything quite so low as to
*read* his books if you dislike him so much; simply count what you find of
his work vs. what you find by *any* archivist or librarian. Is there a
clue here?

(3) In a spirit of impatience, I might add that criticism of Baker for not
being an archivist, a librarian, or "public" in the way in which he runs
his self-created newspaper archive is, it seems to me, ill-judged,
mean-spirited, and likely to be remarkably unproductive. The guy has at
least put his own money and effort where his mouth is, and he has done so
in an area that has nothing to do with his main business in life, writing.
That kind of stuff counts in the arena of public perception. And should.

Daniel Traister, Curator, Research Services
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
University of Pennsylvania

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