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Feature

The Sorry State of Literary Criticism

A Conversation with Jon Phillips, Bookmarks Magazine’s Publisher and Editor

by Nina L. Diamond

It was hard enough to get a book reviewed when there was a thriviing literary criticism presence in the mainstream print media. Now that original book reviews and book review sections have been placed on the endangered species list, I spoke with Jon Phillips, publisher and editor of the book review bi-monthly, Bookmarks magazine, to take a look at what's happening in review world.

IP: As the publisher and editor of a national print magazine devoted to book reviews, what do you think about the state of original book reviews and book review sections, and how they’ve been dropped recently by so many newspapers?

JP: It’s fundamentally sad and horrible. It’s sad that the state of literary criticism is demolished. The ability to have intelligent communal conversations about books is diminished. At the same time, what’s always been strange about book reviews is that they’re written for so many people who aren’t going to actually read the book.

IP: Lots of people just read the reviews, and enjoy it, and even learn something from it, but aren’t necessarily going to go out and get the book.

JP: And that’s okay, but it’s not what I’d always thought of book reviews. I’d thought of them as a way to show me what books I might want to read. But there are two primary audiences for book reviews: people who like to be intellectually informed, and the people who are trying to figure out what books they should read.

It’s different from movie reviews, where more people are trying to figure out which movie to see. Book reviews are often beautiful essays. When The New York Times publishes a book review for hundreds of thousands, or millions, of people, they have to be written for people who aren’t going to read the book. If you’re going to read the book, you almost have to read the review with one eye closed, or not all the way to the end, because it’s going to reveal something and spoil it. A review is a thoughtful essay, a meditation on the book. And it has to serve two audiences.

IP: You found that sometimes people enjoy reading about a book even if they don’t intend to read the book.

JP: And that’s totally legitimate, but it has nothing to do with reading books.

IP: Newspapers and other publications have decimated book reviews, and that reflects how we’ve decimated everything intelligent in our culture.

JP: Absolutely. Books are no longer seen as important cultural markers.

IP: A book is now often just a product that people are rewarded with when they become famous for something else. They’re given a book deal and someone writes the book for them. They’re a brand, and this is something else to sell with the brand name. Even fiction.

JP: That’s also sad. Part of the Oprah effect is the confluence of self-help in fiction and memoir. The victimhood mixed with a tale of survivorhood. I don’t think it offers a lot of personal insight. It doesn’t cause a lot of reflection.

IP: It’s mostly something that should only be read by the author’s therapist.

JP: A lot of books, especially local book club and book group books are, “Oh, these poor people!”

IP: I think it’s about voyeurism. Readers have become trained to just be voyeurs.

JP: Sadly, these kinds of books are great for book groups because people can all get together, read them, and then wring their hands.

IP: But it isn’t an intellectual exercise.

JP: Nor is it an inward-looking one. With our magazine, for better or for worse, I try to focus on the readers. When we started it, I thought that people still looked at books as intellectual markers in the culture, and that people would love the magazine because it’s a great overview of new books and classics, and that people would come away informed. And what I found out is that people enjoy being casual consumers.

IP: And you were surprised by this.

JP: It was my youthful naiveté. I realized that all I can worry about and focus on is people who really want to read books, and helping them make their reading decisions. I can try to do as broad a survey as I can, look under every rock, and help people figure out which books are right for them, if they’re readers. And that’s a small subset of the literary-minded audience. There’s a big gap between people who read The New York Times Book Review and people who keep a list of the next 20 books they want to read. We’re here to help the people who keep a list.

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Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.

Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.

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