3/05/2005|||111002993640517567||||||

INFERIORITY COMPLEX

In the NY Times Book Review, Benjamin Markovits [sorry for the earlier mis-spelling] asks why Britain's literati feel overawed by their American cousins. His essay isn't entirely convincing - comparing Tim Parks with Philip Roth seems slightly skewed - but he makes some good points.

Time to divulge my guilty little secret: I think Roth's recent work is wildly over-rated. Are the reviewers reviewing his books or his politics? Sometimes it's hard to tell. Almost everyone poured scorn on the film adaptation of the passing-for-white drama, "The Human Stain", but I thought it was a lot less blustery than the novel. (Yes, I giggled at Nicole Kidman too, but her character was just as ridiculous in print.) Am I missing something?

|||Clive|||http://clivedavis.blogspot.com/2005/03/inferiority-complex-in-ny-times-book.html|||3/05/2005 01:20:00 pm|||||||||

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