John Updike's Six Rules for Fair Reviewing

http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/2006/06
/reviewing-101-john-updikes-rules.html
posted by John Freeman 6/08/2006

Thirty-one years ago, in the introduction to "Picked Up Pieces," his second collection of assorted prose, John Updike laid down his own six rules for reviewing. They are still the single best guide to fairness today:

"My rules," he writes, "shaped intaglio-fashion by youthful traumas at the receiving end of critical opinion, were and are:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending. (How astounded and indignant was I, when innocent, to find reviewers blabbing, and with the sublime inaccuracy of drunken lords reporting on a peasants' revolt, all the turns of my suspenseful and surpriseful narrative! Most ironically, the only readers who approach a book as the author intends, unpolluted by pre-knowledge of the plot, are the detested reviewers themselves. And then, years later, the blessed fool who picks the volume at random from a library shelf.)

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's ouevre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser. Do not accept for review a book you are predisposed to dislike, or committed by friendship to like. Do not imagine yourself a caretaker of any tradition, an enforcer of any party standards, a warrior in an idealogical battle, a corrections officer of any kind. Never, never (John Aldridge, Norman Podhoretz) try to put the author "in his place," making him a pawn in a contest with other reviewers. Review the book, not the reputation. Submit to whatever spell, weak or strong, is being cast. Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end."

Perfection Wasted

And another regrettable thing about death
is the ceasing of your own brand of magic,
which took a whole life to develop and market-
the quips, the witticisms, the slant
adjusted to a few, those loved ones nearest
the lip of the stage, their soft faces blanched
in the footlight glow, their laughter close to tears,
their warm pooled breath in and out with your heartbeat,
their response and your performance twinned.
The jokes over the phone. The memories packed
in the rapid-access file. The whole act.
Who will do it again? That's it: no one;
imitators and descendants aren't the same.

~ John Updike

Composed 1/24/90

Collected Poems 1953-1993 (Knopf, 1993, p. 231)

a presence but not an influence

Solzhenitsyn on how the Russian authorities handle the church:

"No one stops them from ringing their bells; they can break communion bread anyway they please. They can have their processions with the cross. But they will in no way allow them to have any connection with social or civic affairs."

~ The First Circle, Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"The church was allowed to go through the motions; it could have a presence, but it dare not have an influence."

~ commentator unknown

"that will be the beginning"

Yesterday morning, before having coffee at the White House, soon-to-be first lady Michelle Obama handed Laura Bush a present. Inside was a leather-bound journal inscribed with a quote from western fiction writer Louis L'Amour:
"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. Yet that will be the beginning."
Also in the gift box was a pen engraved with yesterday's date, for Bush to begin her memoirs, according to Michelle Obama's spokeswoman, Katie McCormick Lelyveld.

Posted on Wed, Jan. 21, 2009
"An upbeat Bush blows a kiss as he leaves office"
He took a last walk at the White House. He left President Obama a note. Then he flew home.
By Deb Riechmann
Associated Press

Huckleberry Finn on Prayer

"Miss Watson, she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing came of it.
She told me to pray everyday, and whatever I asked for I would git it. But it warn't so. I tried it. Once I got a fish line but no hooks. It warn't any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldn't make it work. By and by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but she said I was a fool. She never told me why, and I could never make it out no way.
I set down one day in the woods and had a long think about it. I says to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why don't Deacon Wynn get back the money he lost on pork? Why can't Miss Watson fat up? No, says I to myself, there ain't nothin' to it."

"Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain

Weird Humor

"Whatever happened to the good ole days, when children worked in factories?"
~ Emo Philips

"When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me."
~ Emo Philips

Lincoln's Proclamation on Prayer

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us.
It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

April 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer.

Rick Warren: they're shouting in heaven

Jan. 20, 2009
Inauguration prayer transcript:

Almighty God, our Father:

Everything we see and everything we can't see exists because of You alone. It all comes from You; it all belongs to You; it all exists for Your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.' And You are the compassionate and merciful one; and You are loving to everyone You have made.

Now today we rejoice, not only in America's peaceful transfer of power for the 43rd time: we celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American President of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King, and a great cloud of witnesses, are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice-President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans: United not by race or religion or by blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches and civility in our attitudes-- even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation -- and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations, all people, will stand accountable before You.

We now commit our new president and his wife Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life--Yeshua, Esa, Jesus, Jesus--who taught us to pray:

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

The Need for Courage

A few years ago Richard Cardinal Cushing wrote about the church’s need for courage. He said:
If all the sleeping folks will wake up,
and all the lukewarm folks will fire up,
and all the disgruntled folks will sweeten up,
and all the discouraged folks will cheer up,
and all the depressed folks will look up,
and all the estranged folks will make up,
and all the gossiping folks will shut up,
and all the dry bones will shake up,
and all the true soldiers will stand up,
and all the church members will pray up,
and if the Savior of all will be lifted up . . .
then we can have the greatest renewal this world has ever known.

How Many Presbyterians Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?

Only one.
But first he must examine the old light bulb to see if it is really, physically, and presently dark.
Then upon removing the old and taking up the new, the new bulb having been previously examined and approved as a candidate for replacement, he must explain to those present that in this new light bulb today we are not creating light, for only God creates light, but we are setting a new bulb in its place according to the gracious promises we have received, and we must not think that this light today is anything more than a part of the visible spectrum, there being a great and invisible spectrum of light immutably established by God's holy, perfect, and eternal decree.
Then he shall address the light bulb, charging it to give its light faithfully, daily, in season and out, according to the power of its connection and in the measure of its given wattage, until such time, known only to God, of its burning out.
Having thus spoken, he shall screw in the new bulb saying, "Hey Eddie, it this thing plugged in?"

http://presbyteer.blogspot.com/2008/10
/how-many-presbyterians-does-it-take-to.html

Mistakes

"Not admitting a mistake is a bigger mistake."

~ Robert Half

The real art of conversation

Gentle Thoughts for the Day ... :-)

Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

He who hesitates is probably right.

Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are " XL."

If you think there is good in everybody, you haven't met everybody.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.

There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.

Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words "The" and "IRS" together it spells "Theirs."

Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it..

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.

You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.

Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

First you forget names, then you forget faces. Then you forget to pull up your zipper. It's worse when you forget to pull it down.

Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today, it's called golf.

Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth. AMEN!!

Ambition

"Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition."

~ Timothy Leary

Make Different Choices

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/spirit
/knowyourself/oprahshow1_ss_20070124/1

"If what you're experiencing in the present is painful, you can look at what you did to create it," Gary Zukav says. "Once you make that connection, then you can begin to create differently by making different choices." ...
Address the real root of your problems—fear. Anger typically hides pain, and in turn, pain hides fear, he explains. "Instead of looking at each other in the judgmental ways that you have been, understand that the person you're speaking with is frightened," Gary says. "The ultimate fear [is] that I'm intrinsically flawed."
"When you develop in you the strength and the clarity that lets you know that you are a soul on this earth with gifts to give, and that your painful experiences are self-created, you can begin to create differently," he says. ...
"You can't be loving while you're judging," he says. "You can't be loving while you're criticizing. You can't be loving while you're blaming. … In a spiritual partnership, your commitment is not to the relationship. Your commitment is to your own spiritual growth because [that's] how you can create the relationship that you want." ...
"Under anger is pain. Beneath the pain is fear—this basic fear of powerlessness," he says. "The same thing underlies any compulsive behavior, such as perfectionism." ...
According to Gary, spiritual partnerships have four main requirements—commitment, compassion, courage and conscious communication.

~ Gary Zukav, author of Seat of the Soul

Still a word, from seven letters to one

Q.: There is a common English word that is seven letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains a common English word - from seven letters right on down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing a letter at a time?
- Sherry

A.: Actually, there are a few words that can do this, but only one can really be considered common: Creates. The words are:
Creates
Create
Crate
Rate
Ate
At
A

Q.: What is the only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter?

A.: Uncopyrightable.

"You are a Soul. You have a body."

"You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."
~ C. S. Lewis

Baby Elephant Syndrome

An adult elephant can easily uproot huge trees with its trunk; it can knock down a house without much trouble. When an elephant living in captivity is still a baby, it is tied to a tree with a strong rope or a chain every night. Because it is the nature of elephants to roam free, the baby elephant instinctively tries with all its might to break the rope. But it isn't yet strong enough to do so.
Realizing its efforts are of no use, it finally gives up and stops struggling. After the baby elephant tries and fails many times, it will never try again for the rest of its life.
Later, when the elephant is fully grown, it can be tied to a small tree with a thin rope. It could then easily free itself by uprooting the tree or breaking the rope. But because its mind has been conditioned by its prior experiences, it doesn't make the slightest attempt to break free. The powerfully gigantic elephant has limited its present abilities based on the limitations of the past— Baby Elephant Syndrome.
Human being are exactly like the elephant except for one thing—we can choose not to accept the false boundaries and limitations of our past.

"Don't let your past dictate who you are, but let it be part of who you become."
~ Anonymous

"I am not as good as I ought to be.
I am not as good as I want to be.
I am not as good as I'm going to be.
But I am thankful that I am better than I used to be."
~ former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden

"prisoners of their own minds"

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”

“The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address, 1933

Elegant Common Sense

"Genius ain't anything more than elegant common sense."

~ Josh Billings