Looking forward to reading B.R. Myers' takedown of Chad Harbach in the Atlantic... over a drink while I wait for Harbach to read tonight.
3 days ago
13 April 2012
Critic dislikes something six months late
Looking forward to reading B.R. Myers' takedown of Chad Harbach in the Atlantic... over a drink while I wait for Harbach to read tonight.
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2 comments:
I don't think the aticle was that scathing; it seems like the reviewer wanted to be more harsh on the book but then realized it was unwarranted.
I do agree with his assessment that it is not a major work. Which is fine, not everyone is obligated to do capital-M Major work...but I just wish he didn't spend 10 years or so writing it. I think that forced it to try to be a bigger deal than it was, because when someone spends 10 years on something, we'd like to hope it's a significant work. I felt the same about Charles Bock's Beautiful Children, another book that took like a decade to write. I thought it was a nice book, but it seems like the sort of novel that should take a couple years to write, at most. (Although I like BC more (and think it's more substantial) than Art of Fielding and Marriage Plot, another book that took way too long to come out. Sorry, I know you like those two books.)
No offense taken.
Once I actually read Myers' review, I saw that it was a lot milder than expected. Still, I'm not a huge fan of his stance that my generation is incapable of writing "big" books, or that the novels of today can never measure up to the Greats of Old. If you go into criticism with that mindset, then you're always going to be disappointed.
He does, however, score some points against the notion that there has to be one "superstar" book every year that everyone champions. Even implanted deep within the Literary Establishment I can't deny that that goes on!
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