Posted by Steven
on 22/9/2009, 11:25:10, in reply to "The Vicar and the backs of books"
76.187.110.226
Because of the way I shop for books I usually don't even notice the blurbs on the cover, so it's unlikely that an endorsement would ever influence my decision to buy or read something.
If I were to venture a guess about the sincerity of contemporary endorsements, it would be that they mostly come from authors who had a contract with the same agent or publisher and are part of a tit for tat arrangement. That doesn't mean that most of them aren't sincere, but I would be surprised if there aren't occasional cases of authors endorsing books they haven't read or didn't like.
--Previous Message--
:
: This is a question I had long ago, as far back as
: Snow , that I never got around to asking.
:
: What do you all think of the comments or
: recommendations printed on the backs or sometimes on a
: page in the front of books?
:
: My edition of The Vicar of Wakefield is from Signet. I
: has these comments:
:
: "There was no kind of writing that he did not
: practice, nor did he touch any but to adorn it."
: Samuel Johnson
:
: "With that sweet story Goldsmith found entry into
: every castle and hamlet in Europe." Thackeray
:
: "... the influence (Goldsmith) exercised upon me,
: just at the chief point of my development, cannot be
: estimated." Goethe
:
: "The most exquisite of all romance in
: miniature." Lord Byron
:
: Quite a list of recommendations, though Thackeray's
: seems a little ambiguous.
:
: What do you think of the recommendations of
: contemporary authors on the contemporary works of
: others?
:
: I'll bring up Snow again. My copy has on the cover
: praise from Margaret Atwood and John Updike.
:
: My copy of Cynthia Ozick's Heir to the Glimmering
: World has a comment from Alice Munro.
:
: John Banville's Book of Evidence has a comment from
: Don Delillo.
:
: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold has comments from
: Graham Greene and Daphne DuMaurier.
:
: I suppose that's enough examples. The question,
: really, is do you think authors of some established
: reputation would supply positive comments for books
: they don't actually believe in? Positive comments from
: authors I believe in certainly does add a bit to my
: interest in a book or author I don't know of.
:
:
: