Technicolor and a Serbian Postcard

THE fattest of these novels is the worst; the thinnest, the best.

Realism is a dead duck, and it is realism in its debased sense of verbal cinema that makes nine out of ten fat novels a boredom unto coma. There is always, of course, the novelist with lots to tell. Realism has come to mean Describe Everything, significant or not. You don’t have to worry about the right detail if you chuck them all in. The novels at hand are all entertaining and readable; they are, however, by men at different stages toward mastery of their craft.

GD

About the Author

Guy Davenport

Featured Tags

Manage following

Literature

THE fattest of these novels is the worst; the thinnest, the best.

Realism is a dead duck, and it is realism in its debased sense of verbal cinema that makes nine out of ten fat novels a boredom unto coma. There is always, of course, the novelist with lots to tell. Realism has come to mean Describe Everything, significant or not. You don’t have to worry about the right detail if you chuck them all in. The novels at hand are all entertaining and readable; they are, however, by men at different stages toward mastery of their craft.