I feel I've been quite unnecessarily harsh in my comments in this Place on the last couple of books I finished. Mind you, I was only two-thirds into Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists when I criticised his protagonist, and the final third, in part detailing her experiences in a Japanese labour camp, goes a long way towards giving a full sense of the character as being psychologically convincing. And similarly with the general development of themes in the novel. I came to realise just how ambitious Mr Tan is in his exploration of the Japanese psyche and the art that derives from thence and I think he goes a long way to pulling off a quite remarkable analysis.
Similarly on reflection I've come to realise that what seem pretentious in Simon Reynolds's book on the postpunk era, and the behaviour of a number of the musicians involved, can also be interpreted as a refreshing attempt to break away from the mundane and routine offered by commercial interests. At the very least Reynolds is informative about what was going on in his chosen period in a way that I did find illuminating. The chapter on Talking Heads, to cite a single example, was really worth reading and quite a few of the points made have stuck in my mind. And the enthusiasm shown for the period is endearing; it's just that I find it hard to share some aspects of that enthusiasm.
I'm reminded of a simple truth: a full response takes time to develop and any writer deserves that. It's too easy to be glib and there are too many contexts in which there's a strong temptation to be so.
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2 comments:
I came across this status on my Facebook feed. I thought you might like to know, sir :)
"Having taken English classes for 13 years of school/college, and with no more English classes to look forward to, I can now declare that the ONLY unbiased and non-subjective teacher/professor I've ever had in all those years was Mr Brian Connor."
Very kind of you to pass this on, and very kind of whoever it was who said it to say it. Not sure though it what sense I can be seen as unbiased. I find myself terrifically opinionated in my lessons and quite often disagree with myself.
I'm hoping the writer meant that I treat my students fairly and impartially. I worry sometimes I fail in this respect, but it is something I genuinely try to do. And I genuinely like all of them, I'm happy to say.
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