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Thursday, September 9, 2021

Writing So Pretentious It's Meaningless

In reviewing a 2018 book of photography featuring the work of married photographers, The New York Book Review author wrote: "Every spread contrasts a picture apiece by each of them, and the connections between them are mostly delicate and elusive--a hue, a texture, an incidental structural effect, now and then an object. She is more attuned to the natural world, he to the vagaries of human existence; both of them are intoxicated by color and enjoy making layered compositions on which the eye flits from close up to far back..." This description is so pretentious, so artsy-fartsy, it has no meaning, and is therefore useless and a waste of time. The review is not about the book, it's about a reviewer who is intoxicated by her own show-off writing. 

6 comments:

  1. I enjoy your blog in terms of the crime write-UPS. Wish you'd spend more time writing and less time writing about writing...Thornton bores me to tears.

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    1. Don't respect the dead. Thornton is in a better place where words can't hurt him!

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  2. I think Mr. Knowles would have liked you.

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  3. LOL! Sorry, Jim--sometimes my manners aren't as good as they should be. What I should have shared is that I wish Thornton would write about something other than writing. I do appreciate his slightly skewed views. Too bad he's not around anymore. If he were to mysteriously return, I would hope he'd write about the state of our country, something part political-part social commentary. Sarah, Update New York

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  4. I'll keep that in mind while searching for Thornton P. Knowles quotes. Appreciate your comments and readership.

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  5. Thornton K had his feet firmly on the ground, despite being a writer.

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