He Was Also Quite Splendid In "Casino"

Douthat:

Of course the literary world isn't perfectly bifurcated into realists and experimentalists, let alone "omnipotent insiders and destitute outsiders" (both Franzen and Marcus are very much on the inside looking out). And of course the realism-versus-experimentalism, highbrow versus slightly-less-highbrow debate goes all the way back to the beginning of the twentieth century. But the debate has legs for a reason, and nearly every contemporary literary controversy partakes of it. (Including the one sparked by this entertaining speech.)

But don't listen to me, listen to James Woods, our greatest living critic and an unapologetic champion of realism (though not, needless to say, of hysterical realism).

We think there's a lesson here: with great pretension comes great responsibility (to spell the name of TNR's literary critic properly, of course!).