Judging a Book ...
On the backflap of the dustjacket to John Carey's new book What Good are the Arts? can be read the following brief biography:
He is also, evidently, an ass. The blurb alone was enough to convince me not to venture further. You can tell a lot about a book from its blurbs. Shameless boasting is not something that speaks well for a writer, particularly when he tries to mask it with fake humility. Indeed, there is something boastful about the way Carey allows himself to list even his humbler professions, namely beekeeper and bartender.
It reminded me of what is undoubtedly the best (or worst) example of obnoxious blurbing in recent times. That distinction belongs to Arthur Phillips, who had the following printed about himself on the dustjacket of his book Prague:
John Carey is the Chief Book Reviewer for The Sunday Times (London). He has been at various points in his life a soldier, a television critic, a beekeeper, a bartender, and a professor of literature at Oxford.
He is also, evidently, an ass. The blurb alone was enough to convince me not to venture further. You can tell a lot about a book from its blurbs. Shameless boasting is not something that speaks well for a writer, particularly when he tries to mask it with fake humility. Indeed, there is something boastful about the way Carey allows himself to list even his humbler professions, namely beekeeper and bartender.
It reminded me of what is undoubtedly the best (or worst) example of obnoxious blurbing in recent times. That distinction belongs to Arthur Phillips, who had the following printed about himself on the dustjacket of his book Prague:
Arthur Phillips was born in Minneapolis and educated at Harvard. He has been a child actor, a jazz musician, a speechwriter, a dismally failed entrepreneur, and a five-time Jeopardy! champion. He lived in Budapest from 1990 to 1992 and now lives in Paris with his wife and son.
posted by Q at 11:25 PM
