Tuesday, May 17, 2005

I don't know what it's all about and I don't care

Lots of stimuli yesterday: the fascinating new Herzog movie (Grizzly Man), then the latest number of the invaluable Keeler News, edited by Richard Polt. KN 52 contains the second installment of Harry Stephen Keeler's correspondence with his publisher, Dutton. Unbeknownst to Harry, his wife, Hazel, has written a roman à clef entitled Colored Toys, which she has sent to his editor, Merton S. Yewdale. Yewdale passes on it, and Hazel takes the news gracefully . . . sending him the following questionnaire regarding her book:

Did it drag in the first third?
Did it drag all through?
Could it be said, "I don't know what it's all about and I don't care"?
Was it unconvincing? in what happened?
Was it unconvincing in theme?
Did its setting in Paris militate against it?
Was it too sentimental?
Was it too "sweet"?
Were all the characters unreal?
Were some of the characters unreal?
Did the climactic scenes "miss fire"?
Was it some of these and also the fact that it lacked an n-th quality?
Was it none of these but ONLY the fact that it lacked an n-th quality?
Was it a hybrid action where the mental action was bunched too much in the beginning and the physical action too much at the end?

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