Re: JCO: Prolific

Hi, Steve.
To some extent, it's a red-herring issue. Dedicated athletes run, swim, lift
weights, etc. on a daily basis. Mystics pray day & night. Tycoons study the
market every day. In order to stay at a high level of performance, a daily
application is needed. And, of course, the more one does one's art, the more
accomplished one becomes.
For those of us who would like to discuss (or read about) JCO's art on a
deeper level, book reviews are really not the venue. Scholarly journals,
literary magazines and right here on this site are the best places to get into
deep analysis. Book reviews are as much about marketing as anything else:
that's why publishers send so many free books out to newspapers and individual
reviewers. Many of those books wind up languishing in "slush piles" until the
magazine or newspaper gives a load of them to local libraries or hospitals. When
I write a standard 500-word book review: I'm directing it mainly to
prospective readers -- to people who ordinarily don't think to pick up a book for their
edification or amusement. On occasions when I've interviewed JCO, I've
attempted to take the discussion beyond the "how do you do it?" level by noting
that JCO answered that question several decades ago in Writer Magazine with the
simple advice: "A writer writes." It is fascinating how much she has
accomplished and the general public is right to admire it. No, rate of output
shouldn't be treated as the explanation for why some of her works are more affecting
than others. That does seem to be a cop-out that some reviewers resort to.
Cyrano

In a message dated 10/10/2005 5:39:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
jandsmerritt@earthlink.net writes:

<< Hi Cyrano:

Ah, but your point about the various genres she's worked in is a valid,
constructive observation, and worth, as you say, repeating for the benefit
of readers new to JCO. It's different when someone starts out a review with
the moral equivalent of "Ooh wow, man, look at this writing machine!
Gross!" or even the more benign "I don't know how she does it, but she
does!", which still implies someone abnormal, or even a sort of esthetic
cheater, because she "shouldn't" be able to maintain a high level of
achievment while writing a lot. After all, why shouldn't someone with a lot
of talent, who loves to write and who has a somewhat driven personality,
produce a lot of good writing?

Steve >>
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