Monday, November 11, 2002
I spent some time visiting my college campus this past week. It reminded me how much impact professors have on what books are remembered in our culture versus which ones go out-of-print and forgotten.
Booksellers frequently have more impact on making new books popular - making them known and recognized above the thousands of titles competing for attention. But academics can give a book longevity by examining, exploring, poking, dissecting, and tearing apart in critical writing and essays.
I think book reviews are different because they seek to convince readers whether or not to read a book. Critical essays seek to determine whether a book is relevant to our culture. Book reviews tend to be more like a daily newspaper that gives information as it's happening, and the essays are more like history books with a wider angle and longer time frame.
I'm looking for help finding websites with good critical essays. I'm curious which books the academy is fascinated with, what authors are being tarred and feathered, and hopefully find some inspiring ideas on the changing role of literature that would help a bookseller talk about books. Please email me (info@anthembooks.com) if you know of places or are interested in similar ideas. Thanks!
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Booksellers frequently have more impact on making new books popular - making them known and recognized above the thousands of titles competing for attention. But academics can give a book longevity by examining, exploring, poking, dissecting, and tearing apart in critical writing and essays.
I think book reviews are different because they seek to convince readers whether or not to read a book. Critical essays seek to determine whether a book is relevant to our culture. Book reviews tend to be more like a daily newspaper that gives information as it's happening, and the essays are more like history books with a wider angle and longer time frame.
I'm looking for help finding websites with good critical essays. I'm curious which books the academy is fascinated with, what authors are being tarred and feathered, and hopefully find some inspiring ideas on the changing role of literature that would help a bookseller talk about books. Please email me (info@anthembooks.com) if you know of places or are interested in similar ideas. Thanks!
