Received a pile of Sunday Times Cultures just before leaving for Athens so only now getting around to looking through them starting with the 2nd November issue. Quite an “insightful” (god, how I hate that Americanism!) article on Rowan Atkinson and an even more insightful review of a book which tells us a lot about modern publishing. But first, an e-mail from a publisher to Douglas, “Regrettably, after a lot of thought, I decided to pass on Marie’s book. Very well written but in the current brutal fiction market I just wasn’t confident that I could publish it successfully. I wish you all the best in placing it elsewhere.” NB: Very well written. Now to the book that has been published and quotes from the reviewer. The publisher is Hutchinson, not exactly a tupenny ha’penny outfit, and this is what the reviewer has to say about this debut novel: “verbal and mental powers are remarkably meagre … Slackly put together sentences meander through thickets of irrelevance … Grammar slips awry (he gives quotes) and tautology distends prose that is painfully prolix … Robotic dialogue goes along with an unfortunate propensity for jargon even at moments of would-be intense emotion … occasionally enlivened by unintended ambiguities … writing is for the most part unwaveringly banal … Perceptions are matchingly trite … etcetera. Need one say more? The book is by a figure well-known, particularly if you are interested in politics and the question is, had it been written by Joe Soap would it ever ever have seen the light of day? The answer is a resounding no. Hutchinson editors are interested only in how many punters are going to want to pay £17.99 for 304 pages of “torpidity” because they recognise the name of the author. Quality and literacy goes out the window. The same I feel applies to Anne Widdicombe’s schoolgirl writing. Have I spelt her name right? The shortest route to being a published author is to have your fifteen minutes of fame in any other field. As far as sports personalities, pop stars and suchlike are concerned a ghost writer has to be paid of course but that must have been par for the course for quite a while and the promise of mega sales are not always fulfilled which is probably why remainder shops appear to do well.
On the very next page of the Kultur section, the same reviewer gives John Updyke’s new book a rave review and I feel this is well worth quoting. Not that it will put to shame the money-grubbing giants of the publishing world but only to show there is still some integrity around. It is not published by Hutchinson. “Running through it is a near-ecstatic enthralment with literary concerns. Often ravishingly written and glowing with intelligence, the book not only pays handsome tribute to the pleasures of reading, but abundantly provides them.” Say no more.
Have just finished yet another Dalziel and Pascoe novel and Mister Hill, in my book at least, ha ha, has come up trumps again with a double plot running beautifully side by side. Also reading A.A.Gill’s TV critique in this same Culture section I continue to really admire this man’s writing. Maybe our political friend, if he should attempt a second novel, could take lessons from him.