"Stuff is eaten by dogs, broken by family and friends, sanded down by the wind, frozen by the mountains, lost by the prairie, burnt off by the sun, washed away by the rain. So you are left with dogs, family, friends, sun, rain, wind, prairie and mountains. What more do you want?"
Federico Calboli
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Quote
"In Britain, an editor will permit a writer to make an allusion if he, the editor, understands it. In America, an editor might well understand it but he will want it taken out, for fear the readers won't".-- Clive James in the Atlantic
My take on it is that we're a really diverse country, where even people who shouldn't be reading still try to read. Maybe those same people in Britain (those who shouldn't be reading) are shooting up heroin like they ought to be, instead of interfering with the publishing industry?
Your quote is classic America bashing, but clever, so it gets a pass from me!
The critic is an Aussie- Brit who loves the US, in a review of Pauline Kael, who was utterly sui generis and was hired by Shawn at the New Yorker. My purpose for posting is to question-- I have had BOTH kinds of editors in the US, though more of the "Our readers are dumb" kind-- UNfortunately.
Even the NYRKR had both-- Harold Ross pushed for clarity and simplicity, Shawn was odder but unpredictable.
3 comments:
I think that might be one reason why we're called the United States of Amnesia or the United States of Alzheimer's.
No one can make connections, either by allusion, analogy, or metaphor.
My take on it is that we're a really diverse country, where even people who shouldn't be reading still try to read. Maybe those same people in Britain (those who shouldn't be reading) are shooting up heroin like they ought to be, instead of interfering with the publishing industry?
Your quote is classic America bashing, but clever, so it gets a pass from me!
Shiri
The critic is an Aussie- Brit who loves the US, in a review of Pauline Kael, who was utterly sui generis and was hired by Shawn at the New Yorker. My purpose for posting is to question-- I have had BOTH kinds of editors in the US, though more of the "Our readers are dumb" kind-- UNfortunately.
Even the NYRKR had both-- Harold Ross pushed for clarity and simplicity, Shawn was odder but unpredictable.
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