Casanova Was a Book Lover, by John Maxwell Hamilton.
Louisiana State University Press, 2001.
$24.95 - 280 pages.

lnglorious Employment: In which it is shown that book reviewing is so bad because so many forces drive so few critics to be so nice” - this is the title for Chapter Five of John Maxwell Hamilton’s Casanova Was a Book Lover. Although this book touches on a number of topics regarding books - theft of books was another favorite chapter, as were Hamilton’s scattered comments regarding bookselling - I, being a minor-league reviewer, particularly enjoyed Hamilton’s comments on reviewing. Hamilton criticizes critics ranging from the academic critics of the New York Review of Books to the enthusiastic amateurs on Amazon.com.

Hamilton contends that book reviewing is at a nadir these days, the bottom of a trough in which there are too few real critics and too many nice reviewers. Hamilton is absolutely correct in this part of his assessment of the book business, for much of book reviewing does indeed consist of general descriptions of the book under scrutiny, often accompanied by printed applause and overworked, inflated adjectives.

Hamilton also shows that many reviews belong to what Margaret Fuller once called “... a system of mutual adulation and organized puff.” Authors, friends, and colleagues write reviews and blurbs for one another, heaping on the praise like self-esteem advocates at a feel-good conference.

Such mutual adulation societies provide amusement for those with enough information to comprehend the joke. Having lived in Charlottesville, Va., for a time, and having gotten to know some of the writers there — the ones who say that they write but never produce so much as a short story as well as the ones who actually do write and enjoy a national reputation - it amuses me to this day whenever one of the latter puts a book out, for on the dust jacket of the new novel or the new collection of stories are the comments of the writer’s friends, people whom I knew as the writer’s chums, puffing, as Margaret Fuller stated above, and adulating away with abandon.

Hamilton devotes several chapters to the art of book marketing and to the ways in which authors earn their livings. Popular jobs for writers outside of writing itself include working for the government - steady hours, less pressure, and decent pay - and teaching in universities. Particularly amusing in this examination of occupations was Hamilton’s study of how many different authors, having for different reasons been sentenced to prison, had used the great swatches of available time behind bars to write their books.

Hamilton’s chapter on book marketing was excellent because of its conclusions. After beginning with Benjamin Franklin, whom Hamilton calls the “original American commercial man of letters,” Hamilton quickly proceeds to analyze the current state of American marketing and books. Marketing is king, it seems, and appearance more important than content in terms of short-term sales. After presenting some of the latest tricks of these book hucksters - marketing staffs actually looking for certain types of condemnation as added fuel for sales, tantalizing the readers of a popular author with delayed publication - Hamilton writes that:

“From the moment elementary teachers urge students to read, the message is that books are sacred. No time is spent telling students that many books are awful. As a result, too many youngsters grow into adults who think that anyone who has written a book ‘must be smart.’ And, of course, this lack of education plays into the hands of the marketing consultants .... In our market economy, where books are pumped out like lipstick and pet rocks, we must learn to be ever vigilant for advertising cunning.”

Some other topics in this wide-ranging book include Hamilton’s thoughts on editing (the editors need editors), self-publishing (certain writers turned self-publishers might be better off rejecting their own work), and political books written by professional politicians (most write awfully, most write to promote themselves, and most of their books end up on remainder tables soon after the campaign ends).
In Casanova Was a Book Lover, Hamilton, who is a commentator on Public Radio International as well as a professor at Louisiana State University, has given us a witty and thought-provoking look at the world of books today.

(Jeff Minick owns Saints and Scholars bookstore on Main Street in Waynesville.)

 

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