May
20
Wyatt Mason’s Blog
Filed Under Red Sox, Announcements |
I’m sure many of you enjoy Wyatt Mason’s thoughtful reviews for Harper’s as I do. When he’s enthusiastic about a writer, his joy works on you, through his sentences, like a virus. (A big reason why I bought It’s All Right Now by Charles Chadwick a few years ago.) Even when he’s not so keen on a book, he does something a bit more humane than other critics. When criticizing Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, for example, he graciously pointed toward Smith’s earlier example of writing as a specific reminder of her promise as a writer. Sometimes, I love reading those barbed UK book reviews. There’s nothing like book reviewing as bloodsport. But it is when the reviewers key in to something larger than themselves & their concerns that I value their function, when their reviews become ultimately self-effacing at the service of literature. I’ve read a few of those kinds of reviews from Wyatt Mason, so I’m happy that he’s started a blog called Sentences, through Harper’s website. (The latest entry is his report of the ego-stroking conversation between Jonathan Franzen and James Wood which took place at Harvard.)
On a totally unrelated note: I missed Jon Lester pitching a no-hitter because of the damn graduation ceremony!
(Photo of Mason, from Harper’s website)
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.