ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Literature's Guilty Plea: Exploiting Reality for Sales

opinion-review · 2026-04-23

An article in artpress examines the ethical stance of contemporary literature, arguing that writers exploit reality and the right to say everything, as scandal becomes a sales strategy. The piece contends that the true challenge for authors is not to ban representation of the real but to reflect on what writing the real entails.

Key facts

  • Article published in artpress on November 1, 2000.
  • Argues that writers exploit reality and the right to say everything.
  • Scandal is used as a sales strategy.
  • The real issue is not prohibiting representation of the real.
  • Writers should reflect on the implications of writing the real.

Entities

Institutions

  • artpress

Sources