Context
My View
Anne Burke
Reviewing the Reviewers I
haven’t commented for some time now on the state of book reviewing.
Let’s take a look again. One of the reviewers’ favorite lines about
Dalkey Archive titles is that—even when the reviewer is generally
praising the book—they aren’t “for everyone.” A number of years ago,
this line seemed to be a requirement for any reviewer at the New York Times Book Review or NPR. Its latest appearance is in a review by—of all places—the Complete Review (perhaps the most interesting review source on the net), which recently reviewed Patrik Ourednik’s Europeana.
Since these reviewers seem to know that a book “isn’t for everyone,”
then should we assume that they have a list of books that are for everyone? Surely they must. Let us also assume that they would all
agree that such authors as Homer, Shakespeare, Joyce, Proust, and
Faulkner are “not for everyone.” So, since they appear to use “for
everyone” as a standard to which writers should aspire, what books
could possibly achieve this universal acclaim that Europeana fails to achieve? The only one that comes to mind is The Little Engine That Could. I’ve never heard any complaint whatsoever about this book. All
reviewers, in the future, should be required to list at least five
books that they see as “for everyone,” a practice that might allow us
to judge their tastes and intelligence rather than simply using the
phrase to dismiss a book that they seem unable to dismiss in any other
way, or at least any way that can stand a close inspection, though the
reviewer in the Complete Review did clearly indicate a distaste
for the author’s use of “etc.” Why, he doesn’t say, but this is the
kind of thing that reviewers can get away with. Would it not
be better for such reviewers simply to say, “I don’t get this book”
rather than assuming their position on Mt. Olympus from which to make
their judgments? Rare is the reviewer who could admit that there are
some books that he or she can’t get. Better still would be that
reviewers start all reviews with a statement about what kind of fiction
they like: “Strong plot,” “suspense,” “true-to-life characters,”
“patriotic,” “easy to follow,” “nothing too hard,” “just stories about
growing up in Minnesota,” “a story that even an imbecile can follow,”
“something that reminds me of home,” “anything that shows that true
love is true,” or “sentimental Irish tales.” With such statements in
hand, the beleaguered reader will have at least an outside chance of
judging whether to pay any attention to what follows. I should add here that Europeana is brilliant, funny, ingenious, risk-taking, etc., etc., etc., etc. I
am also convinced that it indeed is not for everyone, as attested to by
the Complete Review. Now let’s take a look at a recent review of another Dalkey Archive title in Library Journal by a librarian from an aerospace library—I realize that this sounds like bad satire on my part, but ’tis true. Someone at Library Journal must have perused this gem of a book—Natural Novel by the Bulgarian novelist Georgi Gospodinov—and decided (based upon the
novel’s unconventionality) that it would be perfect for an aerospace
librarian. Less generous than the reviewer in the Complete Review,
this reviewer does not praise the book on the one hand but then dismiss
it with the tag line of “not for everyone.” Etc., etc., etc. Our Trip to the Netherlands Consul
General Robert J. H. de Leeuw from the Netherlands Consulate in
Chicago, Maria Vlaar from the Foundation for the Production and
Translation of Dutch Literary Works, and Greet Ramael from the Flemish
Literary Fund brought two Dalkey editors and myself to Amsterdam, with
a one-day excursion to Antwerp, to meet with a variety of publishers,
critics, and scholars, as well as the heads of a few literary
organizations. As usual, I was told to stay on the sidelines and keep
quiet, and as usual was not put up at the same upscale hotel that the
editors were: instead, they put me in a place called simply “Hotel.”
The upshot of the trip is that Dalkey will be signing on several
works. The most interesting meeting for me was with Uitgeverij De
Harmonie, a small publisher who has offices in the heart of Amsterdam.
Like most founders of small presses that I’ve met, Jaco Groot was
insistently shy but never stopped talking. His advice to small presses
everywhere: Don’t hire very many people because a large staff costs too
much. As he put it: “Stay small.” He has a staff of three, including
himself. The editors seemed to nod in agreement with all that he said. Where Next? An
Austrian government agency is funding an editorial trip to Austria
later this spring. If I am allowed to go, all that I want to do in
Austria is to meet Gert Jonke. Now there’s a writer who’s not for
everyone. The MacArthur Foundation Not much to say here except that THE MACARTHUR FOUNDATION STILL DOES NOT FUND LITERATURE.
A recent study by a Chicago-area research firm found that not a single
employee at the MacArthur Foundation has ever finished reading a book.
One respondent from the foundation said, “I myself prefer a good
movie. They are over pretty quick and then you can go get something to
eat.” Alone or Not? Eliot wrote: “Old men
ought to be explorers.” He did not elaborate in such a way as to say
whether they should explore alone or whether they would need help.
Time, as they say, will tell.
