June 26, 2006
Lines I wish I wrote, #5
Near the end of a thoughtful negative review of John Updike's new novel, the critic James Wood offers a textbook example of damning with faint praise:
"He is not especially interested in questions of faith or doubt, because aesthetics can always be wheeled in to solve such questions: the world is uncomplicatedly God's, and it exists to be lyrically praised. This has not always been a weakness in his long and varied career. It licenses what is best in his writing—his strong will to thank God for His creation by attending carefully to all its surfaces, from fridges to vaginas." [Emphasis added]