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Sunday 31 March 2013
The Boogey Ideas
In a wide-ranging conversation with Nigel Beale, Michael Lista tackles the idea that an ethical reviews culture requires critics to be silent in the face of what they dislike.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Good interview. I began writing poetry reviews about eight years ago with a very basic premise: tell the truth as if you see it, give a context for your views, and if you are going to take a few pot shots make sure they are accurate and can be supported by logic and example. And Lista is right; cheerleading prose is dull and flat. But, the other consideration is that as a poet one also knows the effort that goes into writing fine poems and to dismiss a poet casually also does not sit right. The issue of honesty is equally slippery. It assumes readers and critics can in fact discern the truth let alone speak it. At the end of the day my aesthetic touchstones( or torpedos) are critical honesty and sympathetic balance and damn the prizes and juries. Down periscope.
Good interview. I began writing poetry reviews about eight years ago with a very basic premise: tell the truth as you see it, give a context for your views, and if you are going to take a few pot shots make sure they are accurate and can be supported by logic and example. And Lista is right; cheerleading prose is dull and flat. But, the other consideration is that as a poet one also knows the effort that goes into writing fine poems and to dismiss a poet casually also does not sit right. The issue of honesty is equally slippery. It assumes readers and critics can in fact discern the truth let alone speak it. At the end of the day my aesthetic touchstones( or torpedos) are critical honesty and sympathetic balance and damn the prizes and juries. Down periscope. Carmelo Militano
2 comments:
Good interview. I began writing poetry reviews about eight years ago with a very basic premise: tell the truth as if you see it, give a context for your views, and if you are going to take a few pot shots make sure they are accurate and can be supported by logic and example. And Lista is right; cheerleading prose is dull and flat. But, the other consideration is that as a poet one also knows the effort that goes into writing fine poems and to dismiss a poet casually also does not sit right.
The issue of honesty is equally slippery. It assumes readers and critics can in fact discern the truth let alone speak it.
At the end of the day my aesthetic touchstones( or torpedos) are critical honesty and sympathetic balance and damn the prizes and juries. Down periscope.
Good interview. I began writing poetry reviews about eight years ago with a very basic premise: tell the truth as you see it, give a context for your views, and if you are going to take a few pot shots make sure they are accurate and can be supported by logic and example. And Lista is right; cheerleading prose is dull and flat. But, the other consideration is that as a poet one also knows the effort that goes into writing fine poems and to dismiss a poet casually also does not sit right.
The issue of honesty is equally slippery. It assumes readers and critics can in fact discern the truth let alone speak it.
At the end of the day my aesthetic touchstones( or torpedos) are critical honesty and sympathetic balance and damn the prizes and juries. Down periscope. Carmelo Militano
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