The true value of reviews

[bondo_ba]

Every writer knows about the emotional effects of a review, whether that review comes from Publisher's Weekly or from the writer's own mother.  A good review can give you a boost, remind you that your writing is wonderful, rekindle the enthusiasm and even revive a dying muse (or a dead one, which then returns as the zombie muse and causes you to

Comments

[bogwitch64]

[bondo_ba]

Thanks! Always lovely to have more sparklies!

[peadarog]

It is endlessly fascinating to find out what others see in your work -- sometimes hilariously wrong, of course :)

[msstacy13]

See, now you've got me wondering,
but maybe that's one of those things that comes with a degree.
(If you have a degree, please forgive my presumption to the contrary.)
But semester after semester of discussion books and stories,
and sometimes the same work in two or three classes,
you notice people seeing the same things in such different ways...

I suppose it would be fascinating in the particulars
even if it's anticipated in general.

[peadarog]

You are forgiven -- I have three degrees, but never managed to finish a Ph.D due to extreme laziness.

Yes, I am very much aware of people seeing things in different ways, but *experiencing* them with your own work, is much more fascinating than hearing how Dante must have been a secret Devil worshiper.

[bondo_ba]

My thoughts exactly! And my lack of a PhD stems from similar causes, although I managed to identify them before starting. Still, I often scare friends and relatives by telling them that this year, I absolutely will get begin the process to get the long-delayed doctorate. Hmm... I think I'll go check out the Ivy League entrance requirements again (I've discarded Oxford and Cambridge because they won't pay me for being there, something I absolutely demand...).

[msstacy13]

Sorry to be both tangential and redundant,
but when I was chattering about Huck Finn and the n-word,
how many people whined about authorial intent?
And yet, really, nobody reads what the author intended.

Anyway, I've pointed out to several fledgling authors
that posting a reivew of one of my books
will do more good for them than for me,
since "The Bohemian Girl" and "The Nothing That Is"
are both titles of other works in addition to my own,
so an unrelated search will thus bring anyone who has reviewed
either of my books to the attention of random book buyers.
But, umm... well, their failure to grasp this
may be part and parcel of their fledgling status.

[bondo_ba]

Heh. Yes, authorial intent is often disregarded by contemporary reviewers, but when a book becomes an important classic, I don't see that historians can do so. Of course, that's just my interpretation of the difference between the mayfly nature of critical theory and the (slightly) more serious science of historical analysis - I may be wrong!

As to the reviews... I'll take them even if they do the reviewer more help than me!

[msstacy13]

The thing is, the author's intent cannot be known,
but most readers assume that their understanding of a work
is consistent with what the author intended.

[bondo_ba]

True, of course, especially in work such as my own where the reader has little other information to go on. But in Twain's case, there are letters, other books and a whole body of sholarly resources available to reconstruct the intent with much more accuracy. Probably not perfectly, of course, but probably pretty darn close.