Lit Crit

In a new interview, author Alain de Botton explained that he never expected (and regretted) that his comments on a book critic's blog would reach a "large audience" via the Internet.

Literary blogger Edward Champion interviewed the author about his unexpected headlines--de Botton had left a passionate set of messages in the comments section of Caleb Crain's blog, responding to a critical review this week. The author explained that critics have a "quasi moral responsibility" to review responsibly, joining a short, fiery list of authors arguing with critics through blogs and microblogs this week.

Here's an excerpt from the interview: "I think that a writer should respond to a critic within a relatively private arena. I don't believe in writing letters to the newspaper. I do believe in writing, on occasion, to the critics directly. I used to believe that posting a message on a writer's website counted as part of this kind of semi-private communication. I have learnt it doesn't, it is akin to starting your own television station in terms of the numbers who might end up attending."

Following yesterday's posts about authors confronting critics on the Internet, Salon.com writer Mary Elizabeth Williams published a fascinating history of the critic-bashing genre.

The story collected of other notable literary feuds from the 21st Century: Dave Eggers' email exchange with a NY Times reporter, Caleb Carr's angry words about a Salon review, and Stanley Crouch's confrontation with a well-known critic.

Finally, in a follow-up post Williams noted that author Ayelet Waldman had left an angry Twitter post about a recent review she received in The New Yorker: "May Jill Lepore rot in hell. That is all." GalleyCat grabbed that screenshot from Waldman's Twitter feed:

In the 21st Century, can one bad print review spoil years of hard work? Following yesterday's Twitter-versy about a Boston Globe book review, another author railed against a book critic online.

According to the LA Times, author Alain de Botton left an angry message in the comments section of Caleb Crain's blog after a harsh review in the NY Times Book Review last week. The author argued that the review would wreck The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work's U.S. sales.

Here's an excerpt from the scathing comment: "it is a review driven by an almost manic desire to bad-mouth and perversely depreciate anything of value. The accusations you level at me are simply extraordinary. I genuinely hope that you will find yourself on the receiving end of such a daft review some time very soon--so that you can grow up and start to take some responsibility for your work as a reviewer. You have now killed my book in the United States, nothing short of that. So that's two years of work down the drain in one miserable 900 word review." (Via Jesse Sunenblick)

Alice Hoffman has a new novel out, and The Boston Globe reviewed it yesterday—freelance critic Roberta Silman, though describing herself as a fan of Hoffman's "gifts of precise prose and the ability to create sympathetic characters" in previous novels like Illumination Point, said The Story Sisters "lacks the spark of the earlier work." The assessment, though negative, is hardly a dogpile; Silman may have found the story "too coy, too contrived," but she also spotted some "wonderful passages" in Hoffman's writing.

So how did Alice Hoffman take the review?

In addition to playing the Famous Writer Card on Twitter, Hoffman also played, among others, the Feminist Card ("Girls are taught to be gracious and keep their mouths shut. We don't have to"), the Provincial Critic Card ("This is a town where a barking dog is the second top story on the news"), the Lousy Paper Card ("No wonder there is no book section in the Globe anymore - they don't care about their readers, why should we care about them"), and the Post Your Enemy's Email & Phone Number Online Card (encouraging fans to further validate her reaction and "tell her what u think of snarky critics").

That last bit in particular has some observers shaking their heads at Hoffman's behavior—yes, as she noted on Twitter, "writers have a way to talk back now," and in some ways the rise of online networking tools has changed the fundamental power dynamic between writers, reviewers, and readers. The relationships between writers and readers, and between reviewers and readers, have become more conversational; it's only natural for the relationship between writers and reviewers to undergo a similar shift. By way of comparison, however, recall Porochista Khakpour's response to Carolyn See after a negative review of Sons and Other Inflammable Objects in 2007. Yes, Khakpour dismissively referred to See as "a very bitter, confused old lady," but she didn't call upon her fans to start harassing the critic. And if, as Hoffman claimed in response to a criticism of her tactics by Washington Post reviewer Ron Charles, "I'm not going after anyone... It's about editors who allow reviewers to give the plot away," why did she send her fans after Roberta Silman, rather than the editors of the Boston Globe?

Oh, and to answer Hoffman's question—while you were working on your first novel, Property Of, in graduate school in the mid-1970s, Roberta Silman was publishing the short stories that came out of her graduate school work in magazines like the New Yorker and preparing them for a collection called Blood Relations, so you both published your first book-length works of "literary fiction" in 1977... except she had already published a YA novel called Somebody Else's Child the year before that. That's who Roberta Silman is.

Even though half the country has been buried under clouds, rainstorms, and generally gloomy weather patterns, blogger David Gutowski has created a gigantic list of more than 100 summer reading lists like good luck charms to bring back summer.

Gutowski runs the literary music blog, Largehearted Boy, specializing in this kind of strategic aggregation. The excellent collection includes such specialized lists as Summer Reads for Advertising Agency Executives and Geeky Summer Reading for the Two-to-Fives.

Here's an excerpt from the Independent's Blockbuster Reborn list: "In [J.G. Farrell's] character-rich, adventure-stuffed, satire-strewn sagas, he cheerfully kicked down the walls between 'literary' and 'genre' fiction. Behind Farrell's return to favour lies a hunger, among readers of fiction and certainly among anxious publishers, for the blockbuster with brains."

Pondering the merger of the William Morris and Endeavor agencies, New Yorker writer Willing Davidson wonders how the merger will affect the salaries of assistants at the literary and talent agencies.

The post examines the connection between internships and literary production. It's a good question for GalleyCat readers. Do the famously low starting salaries for writers, assistants, and aspiring literary types affect literature?

Here's the key passage: "Tiny salaries in the low ranks of publishing are miserable for the young workers, but they're probably worse for literature ... It's a truism of the industry that most of these jobs are held by people who can afford them--people with some parental support and no student loans. Often they've had unpaid internships, that most pernicious example of class privilege. Their superiors are the same people, ten years later. They--we!--are smart, cultured people with good intentions, but it's easy to see how this narrow range could lead to a blinkered view of literature."

From June 12 until July 12, the London-based art collective Ink Illustration will host a new metafictional exhibit, creating book covers and text for books that only exist inside the pages of novels.

Last year imaginary literary scholars Levi Stahl and Ed Park created the Invisible Library, collecting scores of non-existent books that were mentioned in real novels. The collection included imaginary works alluded to in fiction by Jorge Luis Borges, Dorothy L. Sayers, Kurt Vonnegut, and many other authors. The London exhibit draws from 40 of these titles, illustrating the imaginary books.

Here's more from the participatory exhibition: "Working with some of Real Fits best selling writers and novelists, as well as high profile cultural and musical figures, the opening or closing pages of these forty empty books with illustrated covers, will be penned in advance of the exhibition. The collaboration continues throughout the exhibition as gallery attendees and workshop participants are invited to temporarily 'sign out' these library books and carry on writing the developing narratives within. Thus by the close of the exhibition, the once blank pages of each book will be enlivened with imaginative poly-vocal stories."

After six months on Twitter, the website Flashlight Worthy Books has built a dedicated group of 64,000 followers--a flourishing new outlet for writers and readers.

As traditional book review outlets shrink, this site is bringing the book review into the micro-blogosphere with customized book lists. GalleyCat caught up with Flashlight Worthy co-founder Eric Mueller for an exclusive interview about the future of the book review and how publishers can get involved with his popular website.

The interview was shot at O'Reilly Media's Twitter Boot Camp, where experts pondered this new social networking tool. GalleyCat also spoke with Twitter guru Carri Bugbee, getting advice about how to tweet for fictional characters.

After nine years of literary blogging, interviews, and events, Karen Templer has closed her Readerville website.

The final post ponders the evolution of literary websites over the last nine years, and bids farewell to a dedicated readership. Recently a number of literary bloggers discussed the history of the genre as well--cataloging the different waves of bloggers.

Here's more from Readerville: "I'll continue to post about my reading at the new Noting:books and I hope you will too--I still want (need!) to know what you're all reading. Aside from that, I'll be blogging at Collapse and Delight, and I'll still be on Twitter as @karentempler. Gayla's blog is Beautiful Screaming Lady; she's on Twitter as @Sophronisba and on Facebook. Lisa's blog is Mappa Mundi, and she's on Twitter as @lisapeet1. DG's blogs are Six DGs of Observation and The Psychopedia, and he's just joined Twitter. Kat will be continuing the wonderful @new_books feed at Twitter, entirely under her own direction and discretion. And Leah can be found at Twitter and at Facebook." (Via Laura Miller)

Despite the fact 80 cities have joined the national poetry slam competition and President Barack Obama threw an exclusive White House slam, the "originator" of the poetry slam is worried about the health of the genre.

Poet and slam founder Marc Kelly Smith told the NY Times: "Now there's an audience, and people just want to write what the last guy wrote so they can get their face on TV ... We've got too much of that. This show wasn't started to crank out that kind of thing."

In addition, the article rounds up other famous attacks against poetry slams. Harold Bloom once labeled the popular form "the death of art," and poet Jonathan Galassi called it "kind of karaoke of the written word." For supporters, the essay points to Susan B. A. Somers-Willett's scholarly take on the genre, "The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry."