tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post8996375988410220252..comments2024-03-20T19:40:58.078-05:00Comments on The OF Blog: A Literary Rorschach Test: Thoughts on Peter Stothard's Recent CommentsLarry Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-31378218514828105982012-09-27T23:01:22.416-05:002012-09-27T23:01:22.416-05:00I'll be reviewing the Booker shortlist startin...I'll be reviewing the Booker shortlist starting next week. Have already read <i>Bring up the Bodies</i> and <i>Swimming Home</i> and think both are worlds better than virtually all of last year's shortlist. Only one I haven't read/don't own is <i>Umbrella</i> and that might not arrive until mid-October, just before the winner is announced. The comparison of the Moore to the Barnes is worrisome, as I found <i>The Sense of an Ending</i> to be rather trite.Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-37833688785651879182012-09-27T22:19:23.376-05:002012-09-27T22:19:23.376-05:00Two quick points: the divergence that Mr. Stothard...Two quick points: the divergence that Mr. Stothard seems to bemoan between popular opinion and literary fiction happened long ago and has nothing to do with the internet (see the top 10 US bestsellers list for 1950's vs 1990's per Publisher weekly and the names there and you will note the discrepancy as one has Hemingway, Steinbeck, Pasternak, Nabokov, S. de Beauvoir and many other "literary names", the other has Danielle Steel with probably 1/5 of the 100 novels, Stephen King with a few also and all the usual hacks, Grisham, Clancy, Patterson etc etc)<br /><br />Second: curious what you'll think about the Booker shortlist which imho is actually quite far from the "ivory tower" impression that Mr. Stothard seems to give and is much more page turning than last year at least imho - only Umbrella which is a joke played on the reader is unreadable and a few books there are excellent(Swimming Home, Bring up the Bodies - maybe not as good as Wolf hall but still...) with The Garden of Evening Mists one of my top 5 novels of the year; even The Lighthouse which is closest i think to the navel gazing, self-absorbed stuff has some moving moments but it came too much as Sense of an ending lightLiviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-81151806146987231602012-09-27T10:36:56.465-05:002012-09-27T10:36:56.465-05:00Agreed on all counts. It amazes me, despite my pa...Agreed on all counts. It amazes me, despite my past experience saying it shouldn't, that too often people read a source uncritically and think that the medium is by nature objective and unbiased. While I suspect Stothard said more than what was quoted, what was presented was something that the journalist and editor knew would get attention and reactions. As seems to be the norm for the paper, <i>The Guardian</i>'s online writers seem to be feeding off of this manufactured controversy. It's just seems that barely a month or even a week goes by without one of that paper's online staff writing something that inflames the popular/elite, literary/genre, class-based arguments.<br /><br />I guess it makes money for them, so why stop?Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-21536974914356919372012-09-27T06:03:33.196-05:002012-09-27T06:03:33.196-05:00Well, with genre fiction in particular (although i...Well, with genre fiction in particular (although it is by no means confined to that) you very often do find attitudes like "If so many people like it, it must be good", or "Nobody likes <i>Ulysses</i>, but millions of people bought <i>Harry Potter</i>, so that must be the better book". This is of course by no means a new phenomenon, but thanks to the interwebs it has become a very <i>public</i> one, and while one probably should not worry overmuch, becoming complacent is generally not a good idea either. I do wish Stothard would have come across as somewhat less condescending, but, like you apparently do as well, I suspect that the interview having been edited down to quotable bites might have something to do with that.Heloisehttp://heloise2nd.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-87632953624452890932012-09-26T15:36:14.498-05:002012-09-26T15:36:14.498-05:00One day, Sajaan, one day! The only books I'm ...One day, Sajaan, one day! The only books I'm buying for the next few weeks are the ones shortlisted for the Booker Prize, as I plan on reviewing them the first two weeks of October. <br /><br />James,<br /><br />I think he is a bit too pessimistic, but considering the uproar, I suspect some are proving some of his points unwittingly ;)Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-76637325951814544222012-09-26T14:56:35.437-05:002012-09-26T14:56:35.437-05:00His conclusion is exaggerated, but he makes a good...His conclusion is exaggerated, but he makes a good point otherwise. I wan't bothered by what he had to say. I don't really review anymore though, so I ain't all that quick to get offended over nothing.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16504273309594020933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-67076413621487522702012-09-26T14:56:05.358-05:002012-09-26T14:56:05.358-05:00I'll have to tempt you once more toward Barthe...I'll have to tempt you once more toward Barthes' Mythologies, having come to his (very short) essay Blind and Dumb Criticsm:<br /><br />"But if one fears or despises so much the philosophical foundations of a book, and if one demands so insistently the right to understand nothing about them and to say nothing on the subject, why become a critic?"<br /><br />-Sci/SajAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-78789683804504458482012-09-26T13:54:36.385-05:002012-09-26T13:54:36.385-05:00Yeah, I think part of the problem is that his comm...Yeah, I think part of the problem is that his comments (which I suspect are edited down to fit into certain pre-arranged "slots") trigger reactions from those who think they've heard this spiel before. One size certainly doesn't fit all when it comes to reviewing and readers shouldn't expect that.Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-47073779321291596452012-09-26T13:36:14.638-05:002012-09-26T13:36:14.638-05:00Well said, Larry.
I don't have much of a pro...Well said, Larry. <br /><br />I don't have much of a problem with his comments. He doesn't even bemoan the amateur reviewer. He just points out that it's different.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05772306757145765179noreply@blogger.com