A Few Good Voices in My Head: Occasional Pieces on Writing, Editing, and Reading My Contemporaries

by Ted Solotaroff

A Few Good Voices in My Occasional Pieces on Writing, Editing, and Reading My Contemporaries by Ted Solotaroff

Genres: Writing

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very nice selection of essays, though only Part I really opened up to the reader. The rest of the collection is criticism and prognostication about the future of publishing--a bit dry and standoffish, but thoughtful and highly informative nonetheless.

In Part I, "The First Ten Years" and "A Few Good Voices In My Head" are terrific essays; they are personal, funny, endearing, and will ring true to anyone in publishing. They should be required reading for anyone in an MFA program.

The rest of the book offers a view of publishing from circa 30 years ago, when samizdat fiction was the only human voice speaking from behind the Iron Curtain, and when American literature sought to redeem its antisemitic pedigree. The thread uniting these disparate essays is Solotaroff's wonderful defense of writers, his endorsement of the project of writing, and his fondness for the writerly spirit.

[Kiof]

“Writing In the Cold” is a classic celebration of writerly persistence. It’s interesting to see in the other essays the creative writing program and the neoliberal publishing industry as his two main targets of criticism; on paper it seems like the creative writing program could offer freedom from the whims of the market. But Solotaroff says that the creative writing bargain comes at a steep price, at least in terms of literary quality and originality.

[Drew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many of my writing friends give this book high praise — and I don't get it. Though likely illuminative when published in 1987, the literary analysis, excessive name dropping, and 'insider' knowledge seems woefully insular and antiquated today.