Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sweet mouthing

hi cornelius
if i understand your message, a review is on the way? i look forward to it.
ken

On 7/31/13 2:20 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:

"It's all too easy for a reviewer to confuse his job with that of a literary critic. A reviewer must remember that his audience has not yet read the book which he is discussing; a critic starts with the assumption that his audience is fairly familiar with the work or author he is reexamining. A critic says, as it were, "This work has certain virtues or technical devices which, so far as I am aware, no reader has perceived except myself. Here they are. Look at the text again and see for yourself if I am right or wrong." The principal duty of a reviewer, on the other hand is not judging or explaining, but describing. What he ought to say is, "I have just read a book sent to me by its publishers. Let me tell you the kind of book it is so that you can decide if it sounds like the kind of book that you would like to read."

Some kinds of books are easier to describe than others. A reviewer can give a fairly just notion of a book concerned with ideas by just outlining its general argument and, if he will only give enough quotations, one can tell immediately whether a new lyric poet is one's cup of tea, but describing prose fiction is much more difficult. One of the great pleasures in reading fiction is that of suspense and surprise - what is going to happen next? What new character is going to appear? What secret is about to be revealed? Consequently, if a reviewer describes the plot or the characters too fully, he spoils half of the prospective reader's fun; yet without doing so, how is he going to give a fair idea of the novel?

One can read Miss Spark's novels as one reads most fiction, as feigned histories. Her characters, that is to say, their speech and social milieu, do not belong to some private imaginary world but to twentieth century England; one could meet their like at dinner or on a bus. But presently, particularly if one has read several of them, one becomes aware of another dimension than the simply historical. The principal concern of the writer of feigned histories is the exploration in depth of individual human characters; since he cannot do this without, as we say "getting inside" them, his novels are usually confined to the same kind of social milieu, the one to which by birth or circumstances, he himself belongs, for only there can he feel sure of his insights..."

The Mid-Century, May, 1962.

From W. H. Auden's' essay, "A disturbing Novelist" which appears on pages 405 – 408 of "The Complete Works of W. H. Auden - Prose - Volume IV -1956 – 1962 "

I've quoted the first two and a half short paragraphs of W.H. Auden's six paragraph review of Muriel Spark's Trio "The Comforters", "The Ballad of Peckham Rye" (which I read ages ago) and "Memento Mori". They are indeed simple, straightforward guidelines for those whose vocation is that of reviewer and or literary critic, although sometimes, consciously or unconsciously the two roles are judiciously fused into one.

Having been severely struck repeatedly, I'm still working assiduously on Alagba Falola's goldmine A Mouth Sweeter Than salt – especially aware that someone of the calibre of Oga Ikhide has already given his twenty-one gun salute to the Algaba's autobiographical canon. Since I am a different breed of reader and certainly from a slightly different background or blackground than Oga Ikhide (who, upon first joining this series I originally mistook for Ime Ikiddeh of whom I cannot think without savouring that letter he wrote in African Literature Today No.2  in which blow by blow he disentangles Ronald Dathorne's analysis of Christopher Okigbo's " Heavensgate") what I have to do, all I have to do – perfectionist that I am with guitar and song - is to be equally painstaking in conveying my own original impressions from mind to paper, with an emphasis on Auden's words "This work has certain virtues or technical devices which, so far as I am aware, no reader has perceived except myself. Here they are. Look at the text again and see for yourself if I am right or wrong."

This is no empty boast  and hopefully, Professor Harrow will grade the result, to my own personal satisfaction and even do what he likes with it, once he's seen some mettle, suffice it to say that I'm bad when I like the song and as  B.D says  But I'll know my song well before I start singin'

Sincerely,

WE SWEDEN

 

 

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu