tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post2937764396771499699..comments2024-03-28T19:56:32.848-05:00Comments on Anecdotal Evidence: 'Literature Says Most Things Itself'Patrick Kurphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08436175583386298032noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-78354432020903986392019-12-03T12:51:42.254-06:002019-12-03T12:51:42.254-06:00Patrick,
Some time in the late '70s I wrote a...Patrick,<br /><br />Some time in the late '70s I wrote a fan letter to Simon. He replied with a critique of my letter--a favorable one, I'm pleased to report. He reviewed the letter both for quality of writing and cogency of the points made. I doubt very much that he would have hesitated to light into me if he had found the letter wanting, notwithstanding that its sole purpose was to praise him. The man seems to have been constitutionally incapable of relaxing his critical disposition. But whatever. I learned more from Simon about high critical standards, the need for them, and how they should be applied than from any other critic of that period. I will miss him. As your friend suggests, Epstein is probably the only critic left who does the hard work of judging a work of literature, in Edmund Wilson's phrase (or was it T.S. Eliot's?), "under the aspect of eternity."<br /><br />Best,<br />Joel Gershowitzjoel.m.gershowitz@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16450863361802007364noreply@blogger.com