Saturday, February 25, 2006

bad writing

I enjoyed this blog on bad writing:
sucking-blood-out-of-literature/
I'd started to read The Historian late last year and given up, finding the writing portentous. It was nice to have the view confimed by analysis.

But
yeah whatever
(which had triggered the previouse blog) seemed to go over the top in its attack Zadie Smith's On Beauty. The criticism was based on a single example of a poor metaphor. I really enjoyed Smith's book even though I wasn't favorably disposed at the start as I hadn't got into White Teeth. I know lots of moderately literate people who enjoyed On Beauty as much as I did. Dr Zen has an overdeveloped canon of correctness.

1 comment:

james roy said...

Andrew,

You're right, it's a ridiculous criticism, especially when you consider that Dr Zen's greatest irritation is self-indulgence, something he himself is rather guilty of. He is, in short, a tosser. For those playing at home, note how few comments he receives...