Helen Vendler in today's NY Times Book Review
This is just so wrong:
"Today Vendler seldom reviews poets under 50, since their “frames of reference,” she says, are alien to her. “They’re writing about the television cartoons they saw when they were growing up. And that’s fine. It’s as good a resource of imagery as orchards. Only I’ve seen orchards and I didn’t watch these cartoons,” she said. “So I don’t feel I’m the best reader for most of the young ones.”
Could you imagine an art, drama, dance, or music critic saying such a thing?
"Today Vendler seldom reviews poets under 50, since their “frames of reference,” she says, are alien to her. “They’re writing about the television cartoons they saw when they were growing up. And that’s fine. It’s as good a resource of imagery as orchards. Only I’ve seen orchards and I didn’t watch these cartoons,” she said. “So I don’t feel I’m the best reader for most of the young ones.”
Could you imagine an art, drama, dance, or music critic saying such a thing?
posted by Todd Colby at 10:57 AM
1 Comments:
Hey, thanks for posting this. I had a vague memory of Vendler saying this, and just googled "helen vendler orchards," and now I know exactly what NYT piece it was. I actually ended up writing a (very short) poem called "The Nonexistent Orchard" in response to what Vendler said -- it's been irking me and irking me. It's so patronizing -- but I suppose if someone doesn't like references to popular culture, well, those are the sort of references she does not like.
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