Compare and contrast Most blogs I write seem t…
Compare and contrast
Most blogs I write seem to be a moan about the nature of literary journalism in Britain. If anyone needs any more convincing, compare and contrast Robert Pinsky�s review in The New York Times of a new biography of Dante and the English novelist DJ Taylor�s article in The Guardian about �experimental� fiction writing. (You will need to register with the NYT, but it�s worth it.)
What bothers me is the tone. While Pinsky is thoughtful, informative and inspiring, Taylor’s article is a piece of smug hack work. In his defence, it does seem to be a tone loved by editors in this country. They demand amusing anecdotes and nothing too heavy. If Taylor had to review the new biography, I�d bet he�d concentrate on Dante fancying a teenage girl and have a laugh at the grandiose project it spawned.
Other SpikeMagazine.com posts of interest:
- Paper heavyweights
- The War on Truth
- Getting Kafka wrong, again
- Henry James Wood and Variations
- The Dante Top 10
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