Thursday, May 13, 2010

Author vs Author putdowns

In Twitter I found this link to the 50 best author vs author putdowns. The best one was

Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full, according to Norman Mailer (1998)


The book has gas and runs out of gas, fills up again, goes dry. It is a 742-page work that reads as if it is fifteen hundred pages long....

At certain points, reading the work can even be said to resemble the act of making love to a three-hundred pound woman. Once she gets on top, it's over. Fall in love, or be asphyxiated. So you read and you grab and you even find delight in some of these mounds of material. Yet all the while you resist -- how you resist! -- letting three hundred pounds take you over.


If only some one creates such a list for Tamil Literature. The hottest show in town right now is Jeyamohan vs Charu Nivedita. A year back there was S Ramakrishnan's outburst against his erstwhile friend Venkatesan's Kaval KOttam novel, calling it a 1000 page absurdity (ஆயிரம் பக்க அபத்தம்). In the collection of Asokamithran's writing I read his subtle put down of Sujatha. Critic Venkat Saminathan too is well known for his acerbic reviews of Tamil literature. Any one interested in preparing a collection of literary spats?

3 comments:

MSV Muthu said...

You missed pudumaipithan vs Kalki..I am interested Senthil.

Restive Mind said...

Yet another book worm, directed to this site from a google search for Kaval Kottam novel!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link. very interesting!!