[lbo-talk] Arundhati Roy

John Adams jadams01 at sprynet.com
Mon Mar 6 08:25:11 PST 2006


On Mar 6, 2006, at 9:56 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:


> Marianne Moore, as an editor, preferred long reviews of good books,
> short reviews of so-so books, and no review at all of bad books.

That was my general editorial policy (though I didn't stop writers from writing pans), and my preferred strategy as a reviewer. Critics are critical, and their praise is more meaningful than their put-downs.

Live performance didn't allow for this luxury--I once had to write a bad review of a band I knew well, which included my two best friends in the world, because they were on the bill of a show that I wanted to praise. I hated writing that pan, and I hated having to try to be kind--I'd've rather just ignored that atypically poor set, but I couldn't.



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