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You can’t crowd-source cultural criticism
Posted 25 Jan 10
Everyone knows that online reviews — of anything — suffer from grade inflation. Just like Ive League undergrads, everyone is (far) above average.
Which makes me wonder, again, why anyone thinks something like Amazon reviews can replace print-venue literary criticism. If you want a reasonable plot summary, sure. If you’re interested in the opinions of political trolls on books deemed controversial, yup, got that. If you’d like a long list of complaints from everyone whose order was late or screwed up somehow, look no further.
But thoughtful commentary, setting a work in wider context, that’s well-written to boot? All too rare.
A viable, internet-based model may emerge. But so far, the loss of print literary culture is just that — a loss, with no replacement yet.
This post indexed as: Reading, Writing