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Words to criticize by
Published: 3/27/2012 2:11 PM
Last Modified: 3/27/2012 2:11 PM

One of the books that will be featured this coming Sunday in the Tulsa World Books section will be “Reading for My Life,” a collection of reviews and essays by the late John Leonard.

Leonard, who died in 2008, was probably best known for his weekly appearances on “CBS Sunday Morning,” giving his always insightful, jazzily erudite opinions on books, films, television shows and other manifestations of our popular culture.

While much of the book is rightly devoted to Leonard’s own writings, the final section includes remembrances by family, friends, colleagues and admirers, including one by Letty Cottin Pogrebin, who recalled her time writing for Leonard when he was editor of the New York Times Book Review.

Pogrebin shared what she called Leonard’s “standard advice” when it came to reviewing. He was talking about books, but it is an approach that would serve an critic assessing any work of art:

“Don’t pan a book unless absolutely necessary. Don’t flex your writerly muscles, show off your superior knowledge, or trot out your bitingly clever ripostes at the expense of another writer’s dignity. Be true to your critical assessment of the book but never forget that behind the author’s name on the title page stands a person who is feeling exposed and vulnerable right now and who may have spent years of his or her life trying to make that book the best it could be. Don’t cut your career teeth on the flesh of a fellow or sister writer.”




Reader Comments 2 Total
Jayhawk Ken (11 months ago)
In other words, be sensitive and even supportive, when merited. You do an excellent job of that, James, along with warning potential ticket-buyers of uncomfortable potholes.
Thunder196 (11 months ago)
Interesting.
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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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