Comments on: Conscience and Integrity http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/ a cultural website in ever-shifting standing Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:01:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kathleen Maher http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-240797 Kathleen Maher Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:26:17 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/#comment-240797 A reasonable excoriation, welcome by the recipient or not, requires that the critic read the sentences. Or at least read the pages and not skim the stack while watching a DVD and/or chatting on a cell. A careful reading requires time and, perhaps even more to be doled out only to the outstanding few, serious consideration. What a good friend you must be, and what a fine teacher, whether your personal judgment proves right or wrong. A reasonable excoriation, welcome by the recipient or not, requires that the critic read the sentences. Or at least read the pages and not skim the stack while watching a DVD and/or chatting on a cell. A careful reading requires time and, perhaps even more to be doled out only to the outstanding few, serious consideration.
What a good friend you must be, and what a fine teacher, whether your personal judgment proves right or wrong.

]]> By: eNotes Book Blog » Blog Archive » Kenneth Grahame: 38-Year Old Virgin… http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-240768 eNotes Book Blog » Blog Archive » Kenneth Grahame: 38-Year Old Virgin… Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:55:09 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/#comment-240768 [...] Smith (and in turn me) and her decision to reward no money in this recent short story competition. Ed has some decent points, but I just don’t understand how why he thinks Smith outlining a [...] [...] Smith (and in turn me) and her decision to reward no money in this recent short story competition. Ed has some decent points, but I just don’t understand how why he thinks Smith outlining a [...]

]]> By: champion of champions http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-240744 champion of champions Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:48:10 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/#comment-240744 Um, didn't Keroac spend years rewriting On The Road to get it in publishable form? If memory serves, didn't Salinger spend like 14 years or something on Catcher in the Rye? Edward P Jones thought about the Known World for nine years before writing it. The Corrections took a decade. Andres Dubus III once took seven years to write a very short short story. Writers as non glittery as Terese Svoboda, who spent 16 years on her first novel, take time and effort to get their work right. This does not mean that during that time there were not moments of "urgency" or iprovizational magic. It means that sometimes it takes a while. It is the art of fiction, not, say, a blog. Um, didn’t Keroac spend years rewriting On The Road to get it in publishable form? If memory serves, didn’t Salinger spend like 14 years or something on Catcher in the Rye? Edward P Jones thought about the Known World for nine years before writing it. The Corrections took a decade. Andres Dubus III once took seven years to write a very short short story. Writers as non glittery as Terese Svoboda, who spent 16 years on her first novel, take time and effort to get their work right. This does not mean that during that time there were not moments of “urgency” or iprovizational magic. It means that sometimes it takes a while. It is the art of fiction, not, say, a blog.

]]> By: Mike B. http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-240733 Mike B. Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:22:02 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/#comment-240733 From the article: "Bock worked for 11 years on 'Beautiful Children' and lived for most of that time in a tiny one-bedroom Gramercy Park-area apartment." So, 11, not nine as you say. Unless he said nine to you in your interview and he said 11 to the newspaper guy. Also, channeling my hero B.R. Myers -- the sentence quoted in the <i>New York Times</i> article sounds like a hot mess. From the article: “Bock worked for 11 years on ‘Beautiful Children’ and lived for most of that time in a tiny one-bedroom Gramercy Park-area apartment.”

So, 11, not nine as you say. Unless he said nine to you in your interview and he said 11 to the newspaper guy.

Also, channeling my hero B.R. Myers — the sentence quoted in the New York Times article sounds like a hot mess.

]]> By: Pete http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-240731 Pete Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:46:23 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/#comment-240731 Rather than effectively saying "Sorry, not good enough" to all of the shortlisted writers, Smith really owes each of them a detailed critique of their stories. Rather than effectively saying “Sorry, not good enough” to all of the shortlisted writers, Smith really owes each of them a detailed critique of their stories.

]]> By: Patrick Stephenson http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-240730 Patrick Stephenson Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:35:23 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/#comment-240730 Thank you for introducing me to Charles Bock. I'm planning to buy "Beautiful Children" on my lunch break and I'm really excited. Please specify who it is you're talking about before the third paragraph of your entries, though! Thank you for introducing me to Charles Bock. I’m planning to buy “Beautiful Children” on my lunch break and I’m really excited. Please specify who it is you’re talking about before the third paragraph of your entries, though!

]]> By: Elizabeth McCullough http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-240727 Elizabeth McCullough Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:51:21 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/conscience-and-integrity/#comment-240727 I just kept thinking of those three editors on the short-list committee, reading and reading and sorting through the piles to find 10 stories good enough for Smith to look at. Kind of the epitome of a thankless job. How about this for a heartbreaker: "When Zadie received the short list, she immediately saw the flaws in the stories that we had hummed and hawed over." What fools we mortals be! I just kept thinking of those three editors on the short-list committee, reading and reading and sorting through the piles to find 10 stories good enough for Smith to look at. Kind of the epitome of a thankless job.

How about this for a heartbreaker: “When Zadie received the short list, she immediately saw the flaws in the stories that we had hummed and hawed over.” What fools we mortals be!

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