Too Little, Too Hard

A collection of essays on work and value edited by Lucy Mercer and Livia Franchini

In recent years, countless arguments have been made for and against the enduring value of literature: reading improves mental health and offers refuge from the news cycle; the novel is dead, poetry obsolete, writers AI-replaceable. Too Little, Too Hard adds nuance to these discussions by asking professional writers what they actually think about literary value, and their underexplored working conditions.

What does it mean to write under a neoliberal economy? What can writers afford to work on – and what are they not supposed to approach? What side work sustains them, and what does it cost? What does the publishing industry want, and what does it quietly refuse? And what has happened to literary criticism, to the university, and to the conditions that once made writing possible?

In this wide-ranging collection of essays, fifteen of our most important writers reflect on their experiences of writing under – and against – capitalism. At once critical and hopeful, Too Little, Too Hard seeks to reckon with the material crises in the present state of literature, while proposing collective action as a way to secure a future in which a writing life becomes viable.

With contributions from Rachael Allen, Sanah Ahsan, Anthony Anaxagorou, Julia Bell, Emily Berry, Sarah Brouillette, Helen Charman, Claudia Durastanti, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Will Harris, Amber Husain, Dizz Tate, Lara Williams, Holly Pester, Andy Perluzzo, Omar Robert Hamilton.