There must be something wrong with an introduction to a new edition of a novel if I read it and think, “God, what a bad novel. I so don’t want to read it” only to start reading the novel and discover that it’s incredibly good.
Dissonance
Opinions, art, debate
Clarissa's Blog 
Is it just that the person who wrote the introduction lives in a completely different universe from yours? I often find this to be true of people who write reviews of books, or even of movies.
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It’s a fellow literary critic, so it shouldn’t be that different. But she almost killed this novel for me. I’m glad I kept reading after the introduction.
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But since it has a bad intro, it’s a bad book.
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Nah, the intro was written by another writer. Sorry, I’m an idiot.
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It’s a scholar reviewing a new edition of a book from the 19th century.
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Being a clod and a philistine I’m only liable to read an introduction after I’ve read the rest and am curious about it (or if I hate, hate, hate it and I think the introduction might give me a clue as to why).
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