The trouble with blogging, RJN, is narrative structure. Or maybe voice. Or maybe diction. Or maybe syntax. Or maybe I just don’t have a clue about the deep configuration of the blog entry as a literary genre. Does anything go? Does nothing go? I’ve got this really nice little thesis¯the kind of thing that comes to one late at night, the perfect sort of little thought that always falls apart in any actual attempt to express it¯about how the novel is being turned from an Aristotelian to a Platonic art form.
My reasons for thinking this involve browsing through a number of books on the fringes of the literature: children’s books like Cornelia Funke’s new Inkspell 
But that’s not what I came to talk about. I wondered, rather, whether this is a bloggable notion. Does one blog a little idea extensively? Or a big idea sketchily? Do you make a small point in numbing detail, or gesture airily at a big point? As an airy gesturer, by natural inclination and generous training in the world of opinion journalism, I hope the sketch is the right way to go. Allow me to adumbrate . . .
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
