Petya Grady

If our authenticity is questioned—if we are caught pretending and playacting—what ground do we have left to stand on? If we are deemed inauthentic, how can we stand for anything at all? Conversely, if everything is potentially performative, how will we ever work up the courage to step outside of our sphere of normal, to risk being earnest and... See more

If all human activity can be measured on a spectrum of authenticity and performativity, what metrics can we use to weed out the genuine from the fabricated? Will we just know ? And why do we care? If our culture of liberal individualism demands anything of us, it is to be, above all else, authentic. To be seen as a poseur or a phony—a person who... See more

Similarly, on X, the ruse of performative reading has come to mask a more earnest quest: to share one’s actual passion for books while also seeming in on the joke. (It’s not uncommon for a user to post a picture of himself reading a heady book with a preëmptive “I’m a performative reader” caption.) These posts function, in part, as an ironic foil... See more

While everyone else is scrolling social media and silencing life with noise-cancelling headphones, the performative reader insists upon his intelligence with attention-seeking insincerity, begging to be noticed with the aid of a big, look-at-me, capital-“B” book.

Thankfully, I am now proud to be part of a very different tradition—the fanzine tradition—that I think will play an increasingly important role in the twenty-first century.

With the New Yorker piece I was determined to do as much research as I needed to. But then I faced the opposite problem. At some point I was doing so much research, so much reading, that it felt impossible to bring it together.

The academic style has many adherents, and many people find it impressive. I find it to be impressive myself. But...there is room in the world for other approaches.

My main innovation, and really the source of all my success, is that I eschew authority. I don’t pretend to be someone who’s an expert on the things that I write about. You all are very... See more