A book bearing the name Dorothy Parker ought to sell, so McNally Editions have been able to offer something interesting this month: a collection of book reviews! No essays or musings, no memoir, nothing that could or should be redone as a short story. This is not the collected non-fiction, or “essays and criticism,” or “writings on life, literature, and art.” Mirabile dictu, these are book reviews, albeit unusual ones. (They are called columns in the title of the collection, but reviews in Sloane Crosley’s introduction and by Parker’s pen.) Now, the reader will surely agree that the book review is suffering, lacking love and support. Newspapers have simply gone and cut their books sections, the straight review is missing from newer literary magazines in favor of longer essays and cultural commentary loosely pegged to new books; authors, when they do write them, then turn around and refer to them in more dignified terms, as essays or pieces. Maybe because reviews are things you can also write about restaurants, movies, albums, and home appliances, the younger scribblers, who have more academic credentials than previous generations, are a little uncomfortable with the term.
Read Full Article »
