Daniel Green on B.R Myers Review of Tree of Smoke

Daniel Green, at The Reading Experience, has a piece on B.R Myers' hack review of Tree of Smoke. On the one hand, I'm pleased to see reasoned criticism of Myers' reviews, on the other, I can't help feeling that any direct response grants this man's efforts more respect than they deserve.

I was amazed to see in the comments that followed how many defenders Myers has--but then, we seem to be living in an age that breeds defenders of the indefensible. In any case, the comments raised a number of questions that beg for a more considered response. Just one example that needs thrashing out: Myer's habit of isolating individual sentences (a method that reminds me of Yvor Winters hyper-rationalist misreadings of Shelley and Stevens), an over valuation of the sentence that cropped up in several comments, and which raises some serious problems regarding translation.

I've been taking notes... something on Imagining the Real. Here's hoping I'll be able to put something together over the winter break.