Persephone Letter - May 30

Have any of you read the Persephone Letter for May 30? Have you any reaction to it?

I did not get it yet.

I read this last night and felt a little afronted by it.

I re-read the letter since your post and still, there are confusing points...rather, what exactly is her point!

"Of course it is heresy to criticise blogging and social suicide to suggest that one would rather sit in an armchair reading Rebecca West, the London Review of Books or even the Guardian book pages".

This just doesn't make sense to me. Where's the social suicide? Doesn't she read books herself? Isn't that where her inspiration came from to create Persephone and keep it alive?

She and I shared correspondence prior to the Tea in NYC where I introduced Librarything and the Persephone Readers group, and she was very kind and generous to send me 10 bookmarks to give those LTers who attended.

Her seemingly flip quotes about "I loved this book" or 'I'm adding it to my TBR list" seemed a direct commentary on LT users.

I'm very intersted in what you think, jillmwo, as well as aluvalibri, indeed.

I didn't get a letter!! What's all this about?!? It isn't published on the Persephone site, is it? I'd love to read it.

Yep, I did not get anything!! Could you PLEASE be more detailed in the explanation of what happened and what she wrote? I am probably thick, but I have no idea od what you are talking about.

To read the letter online, go here:
http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/letter.htm

I think I see the point she's trying to make, and I agree with it in a tiny tiny tiny way - but not completely. And her delivery was, I thought, rather condescending. For all she knows, there are bloggers who know an author's entire body of work, who have historical and theoretical knowledge, and who take far longer than 30 minutes to write their reviews. She claims not to be belittling bloggers, but that's actually just what she's doing.

Totally agree with you, miss_read.

I've just read the Newsletter in the light of all these comments. Ouch. I think that was a real case of 'Open mouth, insert foot'. I had also read the article that she refers to, and I think that both are condescending and patronising. I've been reading a fair bit on the debate between 'professional' reviews and blog posts lately - it seems that old media is simply missing the point that indeed, a blogger can write just as intelligent, meaningful, informed and well-crafted a review as a print journalist. I don't understand the assumption that online = lazy writing but it strikes me as snobbery from those who don't understand this strange new medium. Anyone wonder why book review sections of newspapers are being closed left, right and centre...?

Rec above is spot-on, and this irritates me on so many levels, it hard to know where to start, but I suppose imminent critique is as good a place as any.

The fact that the author has seen fit to air her barely-suppressed, passively-aggressively expressed contempt for the opinions of those who should be so bold as to blog about whether or not they enjoyed a book within the setting of her own blog is most droll. I'd be interested to learn where she feels her own blog (sorry, 'letters') fits into the scheme of things.

There are a number of large, slow-moving targets arrayed within this piece, but let's just consider a couple of the aphoristic bombs the author left ticking away on the screen: 'only the professional critics... know what they are talking about'; 'we should not confuse opinion... with a book review or with literary criticism'.

In short: I beg to opine that I disagree.

At rather more leisure: does anyone still believe that literary criticism is a teleological, end-oriented process that continues to 'improve' as today's critics stand on the shoulders of their forebears, working studiously towards the production of The Ultimate Critical Utterance? Has some ideology-free universal language of crystalline critical Truth been developed that I missed out on, or did I imagine that the 'Linguistic Turn' pulled the rug out from under the feet of criticism's enslavement to transcendental idealism?

I trust you'll excuse my referencing the above with something as low-brow as Wikipedia (free), but I don't have a current subscription to the London Review of Books (£63.72 per annum) or Times Literary Supplement (£92 per annum).

Let's just say that the debate between professional criticism and blogging and its offshoots will be answered in the longue durée, and I know which side my money is on.

I have to say to be honest I'm not especially offended by this letter (just been to read it). She does give credit to the fact that these sites are connecting people and seems grateful for Persephone's mentions.

I think her point is more on an academic level. That peoples, possibly untutored, opinions on blog sites for example, are not neccesarily the best way of evaluating the quality of a book.

That said, she might have been a little more subtle and not just written off a currently very enjoyable means of learning about new and interesting reading possibilities (not to mention any other reason one might blog or read-blog).

And they have quoted Heaven-Ali's LJ review in both the new newsletter and on their website, so maybe they're keener now...

Heaven-Ali's words, and the words of the other bloggers quoted in the latest Biannually, seem to indicate that bloggers do "know what they are talking about" (to quote the May 30th Fortnightly Letter).

LyzzyBee, those were my thoughts exactly. I just received the Biannual Catalogue today (much to my very excited glee!) and noted that they included a few webblog critiques.

I must add that I love their books, their catalogue and just about everything Persephone. With Persephone and Virago, and the beauty of their successful cohabitation in the publishing world, it really comes down to my gratitude for their efforts in enriching our reading lives, and giving a renewed voice to those incredible women who often seem to have endured so much more.