On Being a Critic - Module 5

In Zinsser’s chapter on “Writing About the Arts.” He states that “at some point in his or her career, almost every writer wants to be [a critic]. “ I’m not so sure about that. Criticism is hard! For me assessing the work of my classmates is one of the most difficult things we are asked to do, particularly when the writing is good. When I read my classmates posts, I want to say more than “it was interesting” or “it was heartfelt,” but often lack the words to say more.  

Zinsser asserts that it’s hard to write good reviews saying “it is far easier to bury Caesar than to praise him.”   So true! Watching Judge Judy is one of my guilty pleasures. I often tell my family that I want to be Judge Judy for just one day! How cathartic it would be to just regurgitate whatever I want to say and – nah, nah, nah -- you can’t do anything about it because I am the judge and I can hold you in contempt of court if you backtalk.  Just one day – and be sure to have my spouse and my boss and my complaining friend in court that day. One day and that would be enough for me and then I’d go back to being the upstanding employee and student where I agree to be civil and professional.

In my blog for 501, I wrote about creativity in its many forms. According to Zinsser, I was not a critic, but a reviewer. The distinction being that I made few aesthetic judgments, but instead concentrated on reporting – about the artist, what they did, the effect the work might have on other people, how popular it was, etc. Again, I agreed with Zinsser, that you have to love the medium you are reviewing.