We live, so we are frequently told, in information-rich times. At least, those of us who live in information-rich places do. The glut is such that it isn't possible even to make a fully informed choice of what to take in: the range of possibilities itself needs to have been preselected if we are ever to get beyond reading the menu. (This is why Waterstone's and other booksellers are able to make publishers pay to have their books displayed prominently enough for people to notice, let alone buy them.) A brain trying to absorb too much too quickly can feel like a slug in a salt barrel. In this supersaturated environment, a low-sodium niche is rapidly expanding: short stuff. Even the doggedly highbrow London Review of Books has made concessions to the demand for brevity - in this corner at least. Thank heavens for New Left Review.

LRB 6 June 2002 | PDF Download