Sometimes I come across some work and I am hesistant to criticize it, especially if the comments already on board are glowing.
I recently came across a post on cassava republic blog that made me question my action. Here is an excerpt:
Social media such as Facebook and Twitter have brought people together in unprecedented ways. In literary circles authors can get directly in touch with their fans, other authors and even their reviewers. This has been an amazing advantage for writers. By responding to fan messages, chatting on blogs and forums, and generally establishing personal contact, many of them have been able to create and grow fan bases for their work.
But as critic Jacob Silverman notes in his article on Slate.com, this personal connection can have its drawbacks. For as literary circles – writers, editors, reviewers and fans – become ever more tightly bound through their social networks, it is becoming harder to offer honest feedback.
Silverman uses the example of Emma Straub, an author who, through her generous, funny and kind persona on Twitter, has garnered a following of over 9,000 users. He notes:
…let’s say you’re part of this web of writers, fiction-lovers, literary editors, and readers in the social-media world and you’re assigned a review of Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures. What if you don’t like it? Or what if you like it, but not unreservedly? Are you willing to say so? Would you be willing to critique Straub’s novel after watching her life scroll out on social media over the last year—indeed, after likely being the recipient or admirer of some small word or act of kindness on Straub’s part?
The writer concluded with these words:
If an author’s work is objectively sub-par, and 99% of his or her cheerful and enthusiastic social network were just too polite to tell the truth, while the remaining 1% who didn’t want to falsely praise it simply chose to say nothing, then that author will never get a true reflection of the work’s worth. And, as far as I am concerned, that does no one any favours.
When I read the article I agreed that we are not helping each other if we all shout “great”, “inspiring”, “awesome” or even keep quiet when constructive criticisms could have been made.
What do you think?
hotchocolate 6 months, 3 weeks ago.
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