From a NYT interview with Michael Pollan (and sorry, but it's just by chance that 2 out 3 posts this morning have been about Pollan!):
What’s the last great book you read?
“The Overstory,” by Richard Powers, is a book that, the further I am from reading it, looms larger and larger in my imagination....
Can a great book be badly written? What other criteria can overcome bad prose?
I probably haven’t stuck around long enough to find out — I usually bail quickly on badly written books....
Posts
6 comments:
Temujin writes:
"Wow...thanks for this post. I love your posts about writers talking about writing. I've not read anything by Michael Pollan and I don't see it happening. Not out of disrespect, just because I have too many other books to get to and his topic areas are not in my areas of interest (though I do like to eat and did enjoy psychedelics more than once in my past). Still, I don't want to get lost in the bushes at the 'intersection' of capitalism and caffeine. Sounds too...Connecticut-ty for me.
"Still, I loved the interview and his comments, as well as the interviewer's questions (surprisingly, I was able to read this and not be blocked out by the Times). Especially the question of 'Can a great book be badly written?'. I would say that a great story can be badly written. But if it's badly written, it's- by definition- not a great book. On the other hand, an average story can survive and get read because of great writing. Kind of like having great service at a restaurant that was so spot on and fun and entertaining, that you didn't even mind that the food was actually pretty mediocre. Just as great service can override average food, great prose can override an average story. At least that's how my former-restaurant-operator mind works.
"Thanks for another 'writer's post'."
David writes:
"This may be off-topic, but your post reminded me of something from a few days ago:
"I had been looking into this Knight Professorship program because of the controversy around tenure for Nikole Hannah-Jones at UNC, and found out that Michael Pollan is a Knight Professor at UC Berkeley.
"It seems, on one hand as if it is laudable for a foundation to facilitate getting people, who could be exceptional professors, but who lack the normal academic credentials, in front of students.
"In the case of NHJ, it looks like a colossal mistake—her work doesn’t come close to academic standards, she hasn’t really broken new ground in journalism and hasn’t done any teaching.
"In the case of Michael Pollan, this seems like a perfect example of why the program is great. He is a very compelling speaker and has written a bunch of books which are journalistic and very influential. One thing that comes to mind with Pollan: Was the Knight money really the only thing stopping Berkeley from offering the professorship?"
Rose writes:
"I agree with Temujin on a couple of points, I enjoy the posts on writers as well and his analogy of great service and atmosphere can be a great experience even it the food is not so great.
"In the fall I attended a virtual writing workshop and really enjoyed a specific instructor. She was a good instructor who could present the material in a way that people at different levels of education could understand. I randomly picked one of her books to read to see how she practiced what she preached.
"The overall idea of the book was coping with AIDS in the early appearance of the disease. I started out wondering what was she going to say to treat the topic in a different way. What I discovered was a beautifully written book that kept my attention but that did not present the topic any differently than I expected it to do so. That’s why Temujin’s example connected with me; the experience was great but there were no surprises and therefore no tension.
"A book can be wonderfully written but still badly plotted and therefore not a great book."
Kay writes:
"When I think about great books that are badly written, I right away think of the great classics by Phillip K Dick. Mind you, these are some of my favorite books, and he is one of my top favorite writers, but it’s the ideas that make reading him interesting. The actual writing itself is just not very good."
Tim writes:
"Well, everybody tells me that Chinatown is a great movie, beautifully filmed, the actors were first rate, well directed as far as I can determine, but at the end you are left with "Why did I watch this again?" If you want a multi-layered plot that slowly unfolds in surprising and emotionally affecting ways, Toy Story Three is a much better bet. If the movie disappears from your mind as soon as you are finished watching it, it fails as art, it's just craft, like grandma's beautiful doilies, or the AM radio you listened to to get though a long drive; same with novels.
"That said, my list of novels to read is always fluid and The Overstory sounds like it will make my short list."
R.T. O'Dactyl writes:
"Mark Twain answered the question 'Can a great book be badly written?' rather definitively, at least for works that are classified as "Great Books" by self-proclaimed literary experts:
Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses"
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