Procrastinating.....
Mar. 6th, 2005 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloI have a book review to write and I don't want to write it. The book has taken me weeks to read. It's an experimental novel. It doesn't have a plot or characters or even grammar.
Of course I'm work-shy. But more than that, I'm afraid of looking a fool.
The history of modern art- going back to the beginning of the 19th century- is full of examples of often distinguished critics coming a cropper over work they didn't understand. There is the chap from the Edinburgh Review who rubbished Keats, there is Dickens coming out of the first pre-Raphaelite exhibition overwhelmed by the depravity of it all, there is Ruskin accusing Whistler of "throwing a pot of paint in the public's face" and getting sued by his victim.
Poor Ruskin. He was an intellectual giant and what are the two best known facts about him? (a.) He was so horrified by the discovery that his wife had pubic hair that he was unable to consummate his marriage, and, (b.) Whistler made him look like a twat.
And when you get to the 20th century there's this running battle going on between the cool guys who get it and the silly old noddies who don't. I've always been mortally afeared of being thought a noddy. It has led me, in the past, to embrace experimental work (Hiroshima, Mon Amour, anyone?) which on cooler reflection I think overcooked and silly.
So this is a day for procrastination. Obviously I have to read my LJ Friends list first. And Ailz has just marched in and asked me to type up the notes I took at the Frankenstein tutorial last weekend. Hooray, that will eat up another half hour.
But the moment will finally come. Judgement hour. I will be judged for my judgement. I will walk into the panelled examination room with the grim-faced spectres of modernist heroes- Eliot, Pound, Woolf, Picasso- lined up around the walls and the judge will slap Che Elias' The Pagan Ellipsis on the table and say with an ill-disguised sneer, "well, what do you make of this lot then?"
Of course I'm work-shy. But more than that, I'm afraid of looking a fool.
The history of modern art- going back to the beginning of the 19th century- is full of examples of often distinguished critics coming a cropper over work they didn't understand. There is the chap from the Edinburgh Review who rubbished Keats, there is Dickens coming out of the first pre-Raphaelite exhibition overwhelmed by the depravity of it all, there is Ruskin accusing Whistler of "throwing a pot of paint in the public's face" and getting sued by his victim.
Poor Ruskin. He was an intellectual giant and what are the two best known facts about him? (a.) He was so horrified by the discovery that his wife had pubic hair that he was unable to consummate his marriage, and, (b.) Whistler made him look like a twat.
And when you get to the 20th century there's this running battle going on between the cool guys who get it and the silly old noddies who don't. I've always been mortally afeared of being thought a noddy. It has led me, in the past, to embrace experimental work (Hiroshima, Mon Amour, anyone?) which on cooler reflection I think overcooked and silly.
So this is a day for procrastination. Obviously I have to read my LJ Friends list first. And Ailz has just marched in and asked me to type up the notes I took at the Frankenstein tutorial last weekend. Hooray, that will eat up another half hour.
But the moment will finally come. Judgement hour. I will be judged for my judgement. I will walk into the panelled examination room with the grim-faced spectres of modernist heroes- Eliot, Pound, Woolf, Picasso- lined up around the walls and the judge will slap Che Elias' The Pagan Ellipsis on the table and say with an ill-disguised sneer, "well, what do you make of this lot then?"
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no subject
no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 03:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 05:02 am (UTC)Is it hard as a reviewer to be negative? I imagine so. Maybe that's why you dread this.
No plot, characters, grammar?
What remains? Just typing, as Capote once said?
Aw, I trust you. Good luck.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 05:44 am (UTC)In a sense what he does is just typing- only he makes a virtue of it. And I think that's brave.
I hate doing negative reviews. But sometimes the stuff that's pushed my way is so bad the only alternative is to ignore it.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 05:33 am (UTC)It could work. It's a real challenge, but it could work. I have to read this book. What is the title? Can I ask this? You did not mention it, so I wonder whether this is a fact you wish to share. Please let me know, my curiosity is wide awake now!
no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 05:48 am (UTC)For some reason I don't have a price for it.
Yes, do read it. I think you might well like it. I'd certainly love to have your opinion.
I've roughed out my review and I'm thinking of posting it here.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 05:57 am (UTC)I would love, too, to read your review of the work! I am always very interested in your insights and highly value your opinions.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 06:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-06 06:20 am (UTC)I feel bad about never having read any of his Big Books.