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I haven't any right to criticize: editing book reviews for American periodicals

Faculty Advisor

Date

2015

Keywords

book reviews, scholarship

Abstract (summary)

In Small World (1984), British academic and novelist David Lodge shows us how one enthusiastic notice, well-timed and well-placed, can create a scholarly phenomenon. Esteemed critic Rudyard Parkinson, resentful that he has even been asked to stoop to write a review, decides to use the opportunity to take revenge against a rival: he resolves to make an academic star of little-known Philip Swallow and, by so doing, antagonize Morris Zapp, a character modeled by Lodge after Stanley Fish. This fictional series of events has stayed with me for the length of my professional career. I think about it often. Do reviews actually make a difference in the reception of our scholarship? Is being asked to review a book an honor, or is it a chore? How have reviews changed, and how are they changing, in the era of blogs and tweets?

Publication Information

Monk, C. (2015). I Haven't Any Right to Criticize: Editing Book Reviews for American Periodicals. American Periodicals, 25(1), 15-19.

DOI

Notes

Item Type

Article

Language

English

Rights

All Rights Reserved