The project of clearance reading, begun in May, wrapped up today with the end of In the Kingdom of Speech. It comprised two novels and four other books. My commute is now available for other reading.
In the middle of In the Kingdom of Speech, it struck me how padded the book is. Apart from the notes it has 169 pages, yet without Tom Wolfe's quirks of repetition, ellipsis, onomatopoiea, and snide social observations it would fit comfortably in about a third as many. Two of the other works of non-fiction were padded with pages of what might have or must have happened. Jonathan Raban's Bad Land: An American Romance was the exception: it was the longest of the four and had little if any spare flesh.
Did Tom Wolfe's way of writing derive from his career of writing for magazines? The publishers have advertisements they must fit in around a decent amount of text. The readers have time to kill, in a dentist's waiting room, in an airport gate or on a flight, and they may welcome padding that amuses. In a book, I'd prefer something more concise.
The Guardian's verdict on the Wolfe book was harsher than yours but I think suggests similar doubts:
ReplyDelete"The Kingdom of Speech, then, is a sad example of the interface of literary celebrity with publishing. An author less famous and bankable than Wolfe would surely have been saved from such embarrassment by more critical editorial attention. Even a cursory fact‑check could still have prevented howlers such as the statement that “Einstein discovered the speed of light” (no he didn’t). Wolfe has insisted that he is an atheist rather than a creationist (though this book has of course been welcomed with open arms by the creationist American “intelligent design” movement), and we may as well take him at his word. He is not making a crypto-religious argument; he just hasn’t researched his subject properly."
Did he attribute the discovery of the speed of light to Einstein? I opened the book to find whether this is so, but became discouraged. Tom Wolfe is welcome to his errors: I just wish that he would set them down concisely: a small paper airplane, not a slim book.
DeleteI've noticed the same epidemic of padding. Perhaps the problem is rooted in a shortage of competent editors in the publishing business. That shortage also has evidence in too many grammatical and syntax errors in current writing. Where is a Maxwell Perkins in publishing today!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that publishers believe that they can afford much in the way of editing these days. I suspect that what I describe comes from a number of factors: the sense that for a book below a certain thickness one cannot charge enough to make back costs; a public that is less critical and more tolerant of this sort of wriing; and perhaps a market for books that will be given as gifts--books that the purchaser hasn't read and might not, but supposes that the recipient might.
DeleteGeorge, you make some great points, and I agree with you.
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