'Your Literary Judgments Are Not Interesting'

All of us when young – readers, I mean – fancy ourselves rebels and independent thinkers but most of us are afflicted to varying degrees with the superego of the age. That is, we are influenced, whether we know it or not, by the critical climate, by the judgments and fashions of critics and other readers, especially those among our contemporaries.

For decades starting in my early teens my model of a great writer, one worthy of rereading, study, annotation and – though I would have denied it – worship, was James Joyce. Now I know that much of my veneration for the Irishman was rooted in his reputation for difficulty. Dubliners and Ulysses remain among the supreme works of twentieth-century fiction, and one wonders what all the fuss was about regarding the purported obscurity of the latter. Today, any reasonably attentive reader can enjoy Ulysses without breaking a sweat, though I wouldn’t reread Finnegans Wake with a gun to my head.

Never underestimate the role of snobbery in human affairs, especially among readers, writers and anyone associated with the academic study of literature. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve generally lost interest in ranking writers and books – including deciding who is major and who is minor -- and gained interest in those who appeal to me and reward my efforts, regardless of pedigree. It’s not unlike friendship. At some point we decide who is worth spending time with, who is reliable, worthy of trust and who rewards our efforts.  

I’ve scratched some writers from my mental list of favorites but added many more, most of whom I ignored when young. A few examples, mostly English: Max Beerbohm, Maurice Baring, Walter Savage Landor, E.A. Robinson, Rebecca West, Charles Doughty, Paul Valéry, Walter de la Mare. Another is Desmond MacCarthy, who collected the essay “Literary Snobs” in Criticism (1932). He speaks to the snobs:

“It is true that your literary judgments are not interesting, but you get a great deal of fun out of your rapid revulsions and temporary admirations – and fun is human. Moreover, if you are always ludicrously unfair, you are at any rate unstinting in praise while giving it, which is, in a way, amiable.”

[Isaac Waisberg of IWP Books has published Criticism and five other MacCarthy titles, along with links to dozens of other good books.]