Thanks for disagreeing with some of my points in such a civil way, Victoria. We'd have heard much more about that fiction Pulitzer had not 2000+ plus newspapers died in the past decade or two and killed the jobs of all the book critics who might have taken issue with the judges' decision (as has happened with past Pulitzer controversies). Glad to see your even-handed response here on Substack.
I miss book reviews in general. The kind with depth, that discussed the titles in a cultural context. I see that publicists I follow on Substack are saying that reviews in legacy newspapers don’t sell books, but I often make choices based on reviews in newspapers. As an aside—I did cancel my subscription to the WaPo over the spiking of Ann Telnaes’s work. So, I was glad to see her win a Pulitzer.
I miss those reviews and their cultural context, too. You get a lot of context from online media, but much of it is so personal and idiosyncratic that you miss the kind of big-picture view that critics for all the now-dead newspapers and magazines used to offer.
The problem, as I see it, isn’t that critics lack the ability to give those aerial views but that it isn’t feasible economically because employers aren’t paying them to do it. When I was the book editor of the largest newspaper in Ohio, I could take a week to research and write a story on a big literary topic, such as the latest winner of a Pulitzer or (if it had existed then) a trend like romantasy, because I had a salary. That’s much harder to do now.
It was something of a disappointment to learn about the process (non-process?). As a teacher who was frequently asked to volunteer to do things and then have the work or advice ignored, I couldn’t help but think that the readers—think of the hours and hours or work they put in!—would be unhappy to have their suggestions dismissed.
I think the short stories such as those in the collection In Our Time and the short novel The Sun Also Rises stand up, but most of the rest is insufferable. Especially A Farewell to Arms. I remember reading it and drawing a woman vomiting in the margins of several pages.
Thanks for disagreeing with some of my points in such a civil way, Victoria. We'd have heard much more about that fiction Pulitzer had not 2000+ plus newspapers died in the past decade or two and killed the jobs of all the book critics who might have taken issue with the judges' decision (as has happened with past Pulitzer controversies). Glad to see your even-handed response here on Substack.
I miss book reviews in general. The kind with depth, that discussed the titles in a cultural context. I see that publicists I follow on Substack are saying that reviews in legacy newspapers don’t sell books, but I often make choices based on reviews in newspapers. As an aside—I did cancel my subscription to the WaPo over the spiking of Ann Telnaes’s work. So, I was glad to see her win a Pulitzer.
I miss those reviews and their cultural context, too. You get a lot of context from online media, but much of it is so personal and idiosyncratic that you miss the kind of big-picture view that critics for all the now-dead newspapers and magazines used to offer.
The problem, as I see it, isn’t that critics lack the ability to give those aerial views but that it isn’t feasible economically because employers aren’t paying them to do it. When I was the book editor of the largest newspaper in Ohio, I could take a week to research and write a story on a big literary topic, such as the latest winner of a Pulitzer or (if it had existed then) a trend like romantasy, because I had a salary. That’s much harder to do now.
Interesting insight into the Pulitzer Prize. Another bubble burst for me.
It was something of a disappointment to learn about the process (non-process?). As a teacher who was frequently asked to volunteer to do things and then have the work or advice ignored, I couldn’t help but think that the readers—think of the hours and hours or work they put in!—would be unhappy to have their suggestions dismissed.
Interesting Post. I love your comment about Hemmingway!
I think the short stories such as those in the collection In Our Time and the short novel The Sun Also Rises stand up, but most of the rest is insufferable. Especially A Farewell to Arms. I remember reading it and drawing a woman vomiting in the margins of several pages.