a brief meditation on book reviewing and other matters
In September of 1944, W. H. Auden wrote for The New Republic a review of a book by Charles Norris Cochrane called Christianity and Classical Culture. His review began with this short paragraph: “Since the appearance of the first edition in 1040, I have read this book many times, and my conviction of its importance to the understanding not only of the epoch with which it is concerned, but also of our own, has increased with each rereading.”
There are several points here worthy of our consideration:
1) That a major literary figure, during perhaps the most prolific season of his career (as poet, essayist, and reviewer), would within four years read one particular book “many times”;
2) That anyone would within four years read one book “many times”;
3) That a major poet would be allowed to write long essay-reviews for The New Republic on topics outside his “area of specialization”;
4) That a book about the transition from a pagan classical culture to some kind of “Christendom” could be said to have deep relevance to a great world war occurring sixteen hundred years later;
5) That a major weekly magazine would run a review of a dense, scholarly book four years after its appearance, thereby implicitly acknowledging that (a) editors can sometimes miss important cultural events, (b) significantly demanding works of scholarship can take a while to make their presence properly felt, and (c) novelty isn’t everything: some intellectual achievements have long shelf-lives, and even weekly magazines need not be forbidden to acknowledge that.
Points worth considering, that’s all I’m saying.
P.S. Norris’s book remains a great one, and a lovely edition is now available from the Liberty Fund.
Really? My first impression, was — wow, that is a really bad typo for a major magazine! Didn’t they have proofreaders in 1944? Just kidding — good points.
— Will · Jan 28, 08:46 PM · #
I miss rereading books. Used to do it all the time as a kid. Who has time anymore? Certainly not most book reviewers (James Wood, I would guess, being the exception.
Sometimes I think it’s a pleasure that only professors can afford. But do most professors really get to reread with any regularity? I’m not sure.
— Peter Suderman · Jan 28, 09:14 PM · #
Extremely sensible points, all.
I would add that, of course, this is where the true genius of blogs come in. On a blog, you can run a review however dense you like of any book written four (or four thousand) years earlier. And thanks to the magic of the long tail, it will reach precisely the audience that would be most interested in such a review.
— PEG · Jan 28, 09:14 PM · #
PEG, that’s just the point that I hoped someone would mention — but do you think blogs do this kind of thing often enough? My first thought is: No.
— Alan Jacobs · Jan 28, 11:13 PM · #
Peter, one of the dark temptations of teaching is to say, “Yeah, I know that book well enough, I don’t need to read it again — I can just go with my old notes.” Every now and then I change editions of books just so I’ll have to re-read and make new notes. (But not that often.) (Well, hardly ever.) (But sometimes.)
— Alan Jacobs · Jan 29, 01:54 AM · #
The complicating factor for any print outlet, obviously, is that the book review editors are being given less and less space all the time. My guess is that reviews of overlooked AND out-of-print classics aren’t going to sell too well with the advertisers whose dollars drive these decisions as much or more than editors themselves at any particular outlet.
Blogs, perhaps, do serve a role in covering this problem, though their proliferation may also contribute to the perception that book reviews in newspapers and magazines are unneeded. There’s an interesting and humorous piece on the conundrum of proliferating book reviews in the winter issue of n+1. Unfortunately content isn’t available online.
— Peter Kerry Powers · Jan 29, 02:33 AM · #
The weird thing about reviewing an old book on a blog is that you then have a post which disappears from view in about a week. To really get the effect you’d have to continually revisit the same book in little chunks.
— Justin · Jan 29, 04:21 AM · #
This is one thing that worries me — material vanishing too fast. I’d recommend that anyone with some time click on “Alan Jacobs” and read all of his posts. It’ll do you good.
— Reihan · Jan 29, 04:40 AM · #
Alan, no, maybe not, but just you wait until every single person has a blog and the rioting masses tear down the offices of The New Yorker. That’s when the fun really begins.
— PEG · Jan 29, 08:29 AM · #