I think we'd all be a little better off if every critic read him before they got to work. We'd at least have a bit more fun. Then again maybe not – he's that tier of good that makes you want to snap the pen in half and give it all up because you know you'll never match it. Spot-on piece
Thanks for this, Henry. After reading him for 40 years, I'm afraid I'm not all the way here with you on JW. I've always felt he was kind of a peevish, glittery lightweight--lots of tinsel, not enough tree. But I agree that he's a remarkably expressive phrase-maker and great at celebrating the pure sensation engendered by the work to which he directs us. And I definitely always read everything I come across under his byline, even though I don't usually agree with him. I like my foamy spume as much as the next guy, but ultimately I guess I'm with the incense-swingers.
I think the biggest surprise in here, to this regular Begler reader, is the brief aside on Kael, JW's north star, as she was for so many others. I guess it's right that you had to be there with Kael, because she did so much to change how criticism was practiced, right down to how we considered what made for a good film or a good filmmaker (I've always liked JW best on movies, personally); it can be hard to see what was so fresh and new-seeming in Kael's work after she became so widely imitated. Though she was always pretty polarizing. Adler v. Kael was practically McCarthy v. Hellman II in terms of infamous dustups. Also, isn't snickering the night away with fellow acolytes in a storied nightspot what comprises, for some, the essence of a nourishing scene?
It probably helps having come across the meatier stuff in the LRB before anything else, where it feels like stepping into Oz after reading all those long articles on grain prices in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth or whatever (I say that as someone who loves the LRB for precisely that reason).
I like Adler a lot of the time but I pulled that big Kael demolition job off the shelf recently and it's quite a bewildering essay 45 years on-- with most of her critiques I'm like, is that really so bad? It's always been hard for me to get worked up for either the pro or anti-Kael side--disregarding her impact and influence which I know is a big deal the writing itself has always seemed firmly in the Pretty Good tier. But probably more investigation is needed.
Agree re Adler, and agree re Adler v. Kael. The broader postwar square-off about just how loose/informal a critic/commentator could get before being deemed unserious was mostly over, but there were definitely still feelings.
This essay has the right combination of entertainment and information. I’m not afraid to say the incense-swingers have taught me a lot, but I also always have had big fondness for writers whose language swings.
One of my best editors used to say, Grab at the top and never let go—pull ‘em through the whole story. Yo Begler you did that. I’ve got to go read Walcott. Also I got to start paying and stop free-riding.
I think the "bullpen of hard-throwing critics" line was in reference to The Hudson Review, which featured regular work by Marvin Mudrick, Hugh Kenner, and Roger Sale. I don't think New American Review, which generally prioritized fiction, poetry, and personal essays over criticism, even had anything that qualified as a bullpen.
Love your set of examples of the american high-low bebop register and the east coast-west coast line that's drawn upon it, I jumped (with happiness) at the His Girl Friday reference, since it was adapted the Front Page by Ben Hecht, one of the great outputs of the east coast journalist to west coast scenarist pipeline, along with Herman Mankiewicz and Samuel Fuller.
Since you mention Pauline Kael, and since I got to know this because of her, did you read her very famous (and very unfair) essay on Citizen Kane, which prompted the bad David Fincher film ? You may like this one, because it's above all a love letter to the journalistic tradition in the 30s screwball comedies, in which she praises their rhythm and clockwork qualities (in full coherency with your musical sensibility). You may know all of this by heart, if so I'm sorry !
Henry ‘drop-everything-and-read’ Begler
big dawg
I think we'd all be a little better off if every critic read him before they got to work. We'd at least have a bit more fun. Then again maybe not – he's that tier of good that makes you want to snap the pen in half and give it all up because you know you'll never match it. Spot-on piece
Thanks for this, Henry. After reading him for 40 years, I'm afraid I'm not all the way here with you on JW. I've always felt he was kind of a peevish, glittery lightweight--lots of tinsel, not enough tree. But I agree that he's a remarkably expressive phrase-maker and great at celebrating the pure sensation engendered by the work to which he directs us. And I definitely always read everything I come across under his byline, even though I don't usually agree with him. I like my foamy spume as much as the next guy, but ultimately I guess I'm with the incense-swingers.
I think the biggest surprise in here, to this regular Begler reader, is the brief aside on Kael, JW's north star, as she was for so many others. I guess it's right that you had to be there with Kael, because she did so much to change how criticism was practiced, right down to how we considered what made for a good film or a good filmmaker (I've always liked JW best on movies, personally); it can be hard to see what was so fresh and new-seeming in Kael's work after she became so widely imitated. Though she was always pretty polarizing. Adler v. Kael was practically McCarthy v. Hellman II in terms of infamous dustups. Also, isn't snickering the night away with fellow acolytes in a storied nightspot what comprises, for some, the essence of a nourishing scene?
It probably helps having come across the meatier stuff in the LRB before anything else, where it feels like stepping into Oz after reading all those long articles on grain prices in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth or whatever (I say that as someone who loves the LRB for precisely that reason).
I like Adler a lot of the time but I pulled that big Kael demolition job off the shelf recently and it's quite a bewildering essay 45 years on-- with most of her critiques I'm like, is that really so bad? It's always been hard for me to get worked up for either the pro or anti-Kael side--disregarding her impact and influence which I know is a big deal the writing itself has always seemed firmly in the Pretty Good tier. But probably more investigation is needed.
Agree re Adler, and agree re Adler v. Kael. The broader postwar square-off about just how loose/informal a critic/commentator could get before being deemed unserious was mostly over, but there were definitely still feelings.
The Bellow influence feels important: that jazzy, Yiddish-y, street-wise jangle of the sentences themselves. Great piece.
This essay has the right combination of entertainment and information. I’m not afraid to say the incense-swingers have taught me a lot, but I also always have had big fondness for writers whose language swings.
One of my best editors used to say, Grab at the top and never let go—pull ‘em through the whole story. Yo Begler you did that. I’ve got to go read Walcott. Also I got to start paying and stop free-riding.
It strikes me that the beauty of “Manhattan-skyline voice” is its suitability for a boy from Jersey. Another banger essay!
Just nabbed a copy of Critical Mass after reading this, and have already gobbled up his review of Oates and Edie. Thanks!
I think the "bullpen of hard-throwing critics" line was in reference to The Hudson Review, which featured regular work by Marvin Mudrick, Hugh Kenner, and Roger Sale. I don't think New American Review, which generally prioritized fiction, poetry, and personal essays over criticism, even had anything that qualified as a bullpen.
D'oh! You're right. I've sent word to the editorial department that they're on thin ice...
Love this! You should have Wolcott on your new show. I bet he'd do it.
This is so good. (Also Krim is so great! Him and Manny Farber are folks you should dig into)
This essay is pure joy !!
Love your set of examples of the american high-low bebop register and the east coast-west coast line that's drawn upon it, I jumped (with happiness) at the His Girl Friday reference, since it was adapted the Front Page by Ben Hecht, one of the great outputs of the east coast journalist to west coast scenarist pipeline, along with Herman Mankiewicz and Samuel Fuller.
Since you mention Pauline Kael, and since I got to know this because of her, did you read her very famous (and very unfair) essay on Citizen Kane, which prompted the bad David Fincher film ? You may like this one, because it's above all a love letter to the journalistic tradition in the 30s screwball comedies, in which she praises their rhythm and clockwork qualities (in full coherency with your musical sensibility). You may know all of this by heart, if so I'm sorry !
YESSSSSSS