Thank You for Not Reading: Essays on Literary Trivia (Paperback)

~ Dubravka Ugresic (Author), Celia Hawkesworth (Author, Translator), Damion Searls (Author)
Key Phrases: seventh screw, successful book proposal, trivial literature, East European, New York, Ivana Trump (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the bustling Anglo-American literary marketplace, the Eastern European exile doesn't stand a chance, says Ugresic (Have a Nice Day), herself in self-exile from Croatia. "The literary market demands that people adapt to the norms of production. As a rule, it does not tolerate disobedient artists, it does not tolerate experimenters, artistic subversives, performers of strange strategies in a literary text." Instead, it rewards the artistically obedient. Furthermore, Ugresic complains, literature has lost the exclusiveness it once had. Since the market determines what is good and what is bad based purely on what sells, the door has opened for every two-bit celebrity to hock their wares in mega-bookstores, leaving "real" writers out in the cold. The author compares herself to Eeyore, the famous grumbler, but the tone of this collection can be fickle-is the author playfully grumbling or bitterly mocking? In "GW, the Gloomy Writer" and "The Magnificent Buli," she mocks two types who have entered the global literary market: the male Eastern European writer with an inferiority complex and the genius/literary bulimic. In another piece, Ugresic playfully decries a marketplace that allows an empty personality like Ivana Trump to become a published author. At times, the analysis focuses so intently on the superficial business of marketing books that it overlooks the quiet intellectual activity that energizes English departments all across the United States, those little enclaves where Ivana Trump's output makes nary a ripple. And since an academic audience frustrated with the commodification of books is the primary target for these essays, that feels like a significant omission.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 211 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564782980
• ISBN-13: 978-1564782984
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #127,462 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks For Writing, July 3, 2004

By A Customer

"The literary market does not tolerate the old-fashioned idea of a work of art as a unique, unrepeatable, deeply individual artistic act. In the literary industry, writers are obedient workers, just a link in the chain of production..." - with thoughts like these and many more, Dubravka Ugresic dares to open our eyes to the shortcomings of our literary scene. She dares us to reexamine our restricted notions about what is good or bad, what is saleable and what is not, and, ultimately, what we think is worthy of our complete attention. All the denizens of Amazon's 'reviewing elite' owe her a serious read.

4.0 out of 5 stars Modern critique of the publishing and editing world, June 28, 2008

By	Reader "cvrcak1" (Boca Raton, FL) - See all my reviews

It has been many years since I read one of Ms. Ugresic's books. I loved her short stories, so when I saw her book "Thank you for Not Reading" featured prominently in my local library display, I had to read her latest essays on the literary publishing world. I have enjoyed this book very much, since it makes very careful observations about book market here in the US. Ms. Ugresic is able to be critical without being cynical or bitter. Her references to the work of contemporary eastern european writers, exiled in the West, attempting to present their work to the larger audiences is understandably painful at times, but yet she manages to write about it with dignity and humor. Quotes from grumbling Eeyore are very humbling which reminds me that I should read about Eeyore's (mis)adventures soon again. I guess what surprised me a litlle is that in her earlier works, Ms. Ugresic's publishers have always referred to her as a Croatian writer, while in this book Ms. Ugresic seems to refer to herself as a Yugoslav writer. In any case, I have enjoyed this book, it is right on the mark on what is happening in the publishing industry and I am looking forward to reading and re-reading Ms. Ugresic's literary work.

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Entertaining Essays, March 10, 2004

By A Customer

This collection of essays from the Croatian writer Dubravka Ugresic deals with the state of literature and the arts, the media, the condition of exile and other subjects. While a few of the essays are merely glib, most offer many interesting insights, such as the fact that it is the market, rather than communism, which has most successfully enforced the ideals of "socialist realism" in the arts; that it is the sheer volume of new books, rather than their absence, which has resulted in the death of literature. An entertaining and interesting collection - recommended.