Brecht De Poortere
Literature Review
Brecht De Poortere is the highest-ranked literary critic. I mean this with stunning praise. Literary critics rarely possess this level of integrity. A Belgian of Belgian origin, he goes to great lengths to distill the online writing sphere to its essence. While reading this, I am reminded of Allmusic.com’s music review efforts. Like that fine website, no hype is included within the rankings. I doubt he would be attuned in that specific way, and I doubt he would care. Unlike so many other ranking sites, he appears totally impervious to the whims of the masses, hauling their asses. I appreciate this commitment to feature only the source material.
The commitment to reading is admirable, as is the distillation of thought. In an era where illiteracy is on the rise, there is something undoubtedly noble about the way that Brecht applies his metrics. Every piece suggested presents a different way of being, and he spreads out across a plethora of other venues. I like the variety, and no two stories cover the same thing. Here is an example of the Internet being used for good, creating the kind of warm, inviting culture that was supposedly the whole point of the thing, anyway. Instead, we get the nihilistic vision that Pynchon reflects on in Against the Day. We could have had it so much better. We were promised Strong Bad, and got Big Sad instead.
Some of these places are brand-new to me, which I appreciate. Others are familiar. My brain is healing. I had not read in so long and had been out of the Online Lit game for years that I had forgotten what happened to all my friends. Going through these pieces, I am reminded that these writers never left, that they were always online, waiting for my eventual return. Some deleted, some left, and others got those things called real lives. Fortunately, many of my friends have failed to achieve a real life, choosing instead to write online for niche audiences, of which Brecht is one.
Numerous great resources exist within his lists, and it is a fine repository for anyone looking to explore what writing has evolved into. There is no hype, no flash, no pretention, no sawed-off imps who worship their navels, just essential good stuff. A personal website is a nice touch, and the photos of himself that dot the landscape add to the personalization, as if he’s documenting what the Internet could have evolved into – warm, inviting, and highly individualistic, while simultaneously community-based, albeit without the capitalist suction.
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Brecht is certainly one of the good guys of the online lit game, and his lists are a wonderful public service. Thanks for spotlighting him.