re: rants and pleas...
Posted by Kate on March 26, 1998 at 12:54:31:
In response to A rant and a plea, written by Cheryl on March 26, 1998 at 12:37:33
] We are in our fourth week of the Tomalin biography group read, and I have been enjoying it very much. This week it seems as if people are coming out of the woodwork to tell me that I shouldn't be enjoying it.
] These people seem to be trashing not the book so much as Tomalin and her methods. What I find most disturbing is that they don't seem to believe I am intelligent enough to discern fact from supposition. I find that incredibly insulting.
] Those of us who have been discussing the novel have been discussing, not Tomalin, but Jane Austen. I'd love to have those whose only participation has been Tomalin-bashing to discuss Jane Austen as well. But may I please ask those who do not like the book to refrain from trashing it-- at least until we are done, when we usually spend some time on a general wrap-up discussion. Some of us would like to be able to enjoy it and not have people tell us we're wasting our time.
Thanks Cheryl. I would also appreciate it if everyone could discuss the book in way which allows those of us who are still reading it to form and express our own opinions. At the end of the read there will be ample opportunity to critique the whole methodology.
That is not to say that if, in the course of the read Tomalin says something that you think is not supported by the historical record you shouldn't point it out... but try to be a bit objective!
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