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.
Opinions, art, debate
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.
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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