Meanwhile I have no idea what he's talking about. Perhaps it's lack of context, or perhaps the writing is so "extraordinary" that it is unapproachable to mere mortals.

It reminded me of the Yogi Berra quote "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded".

There's plenty of "good writers" and "decorated poets" who do absolutely nothing for me. I clicked with this, the world is big enough for everyone and something more to your tastes is out there.

It's (at least partly) about trying something new and learning to be happy with whatever level of success you achieve rather than envious of or competitive against those who do the same thing but do it better.

At least, that's the way I took it.

In my (blunt) reading, it's an eloquent, abstract way of saying that the author was way into {thing} before it was cool, but then people found out about {thing}, at which point it was no longer hip and new, and so the author was forced to move on (in disgust!). About how it's hard to be a trendsetter, because people who follow are such tryhards!

In other words, it's Hipsterism in fancy prose.

I’ve never been accused of hipsterism and the excerpt really hits home for me. Probably for a lot of contrarian nerds, always doing things the hard way because doubt is a signalless virtue and I dunno, that other road already has people on it.

OTOH your summary was hilarious if a bit cynical, and I already like Brodsky so who knows.

I agree with you, but I detect a certain level of irony in

> managing to pick something that attracts others denotes a certain vulgarity in your choice

I have read a poem or two by him before, but never essays. I literally picked this book earlier this week and really liking it -- generally essays are hard for me, but he has kind of clicked for me. If anyone is interested, the excerpt is from an essay titled Less Than One, and the name of the book is also Less Than One, Selected Essays by Joseph Brodsky.