Louise Glück’s undelivered Nobel Prize lecture, the text of which was released in early December, stirred up a controversy so familiar as to seem rote, almost generic. An accomplished white artist proffers the refinement of their racism as craft, then awaits their due in attention, attack, defense, and more laurels. The circumstances barely warrant rehearsing; Manu Samriti Chander calls these “art fights” to emphasize the silly way we compulsively restage asymmetrical conflicts between aesthetic and social categories. I’ll forgo the rundown of what got said on social media, some of which was sad, some very funny, and all of it with an undercurrent of weariness and rage.

Louise Glück’s undelivered Nobel Prize lecture, the text of which was released in early December, stirred up a controversy so familiar as to seem rote, almost generic. An accomplished white artist proffers the refinement of their racism as craft, then awaits their due in attention, attack, defense, and more laurels. The circumstances barely warrant rehearsing; Manu Samriti Chander calls these “art fights” to emphasize the silly way we compulsively restage asymmetrical conflicts between aesthetic and social categories. I’ll forgo the rundown of what got said on social media, some of which was sad, some very funny, and all of it with an undercurrent of weariness and rage.