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Tuesday, July 30, 2002

Six degrees of Dale Peck

Link via Mimi Smartypants

This is just weird, and I am completely tangential to the entire discussion except that Dale Peck was at Drew around the same time I was, and our paths probably crossed once or twice. I came across one of his novels, Now It's Time to Say Goodbye in a bookstore at the airport a year or so ago. Purchased it precisely because I "knew" the guy. Had no expectations, but it had been reviewed to glowing result by the New York Times, which is no mean feat. It is a unique effort, and I was genuinely captivated. Not a novel for the squeamish. So finding a reference to an ongoing vitriolic exchange between Peck and Rick Moody (not an author I'm familiar with) elicited an odd combination of recognition, interest, and genuine puzzlement that I had any visceral reaction at all. Weird.


It's an article that comments on a book review. A meta review, of sorts, which makes it a curiousity. But the article raises some interesting points about the value of literary criticism and the role it plays in advancing the cause of literacy itself, and is worth a look:
Does it matter whether Peck's review is a worthy example of contemporary criticism? Many read it; those who deplored it were also obviously galvanized by it. Isn't that achievement enough? Peck's New Republic piece is a reminder that book reviews aren't merely, or sometimes even mostly, reviews of the books. Criticism is never a sum of professional agendas. Something essential -- like the question, why do words matter? -- survives even the slimiest disputes.