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| Vol. 17, No. 24 | March 19, 1998 |
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| Vol. 17, No. 24 | March 19, 1998 |
One of the things some academics do is review the works of others. For some, this is an occasional task; for others, it's almost an avocation.
Among the UD faculty and staff are three who have become regular reviewers-McKay Jenkins, English, whose province is nonfiction; Thomas Leitch, English, a mystery and suspense aficionado; and entertainment reviewer Gerald Reese of the Professional Theatre Training Program.
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The ability to read and write quickly, thanks to seven years as a reporter, plus an academic background in literature, have honed Jenkins' skills as a reviewer for New Jersey's Newark Star Ledger.
A graduate of Amherst with a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, Jenkins spent seven years as a reporter in Atlanta, Seattle and Annapolis, returning to Princeton University for his doctorate in English.
While a graduate student, Jenkins was recommended to the newspaper by his professor to review a new edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The book included previously unpublished episodes recently unearthed in a trunk in California, containing the papers of a Buffalo, N.Y., attorney and library curator.
"...the sections are vintage Twain," Jenkins wrote, "lyrical and amusing even as they play in the shadows of racism and violence." He concluded the book will become a standard edition in classrooms because, "Superb storytelling and intricate engagements with issues of race, after all, are not likely to fall from fashion."
The Newark Star Ledger asked him to become a regular reviewer of mostly nonfiction. His reviews have ranged from The Coming Conflict with China to Prophet of Rage: A Biography of Louis Farrakhan. One of his major interests is reviewing books about race relations. Soon, he will be on the receiving end of reviews when his own book, A Strange and Bitter Crop: Race, Sex and Segregation in the 1940s, is published by the University of North Carolina Press.
A dedicated outdoorsman, he enjoys hiking, camping and kayaking in the wilderness, and books on the environment are another area of concern. His review of Linda Lear's Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature praised it as a "superb new biography...a worthy testament to the woman who in many ways gave birth to the modern environmental movement," and he called her book Silent Spring "one of the most influential books of the 20th century...that changed the way a country viewed itself forever."
Jenkins' love of nature and concern for the environment is reflected in an anthology he is assembling of the nonfiction works of Peter Matthiessen, which will be published in 1999. The author of The Snow Leopard, awarded the American Book Award and the National Book Award, and Sand Rivers, winner of the John Burroughs Medal and African Wildlife Leadership Foundation Award, Matthiessen is speaking tonight at UD, at 7:30 p.m., in Room 006, Kirkbride Lecture Hall.
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Leitch is involved in a different kind of reviewing altogether, specializing in short, pithy reviews of mysteries and suspense books for Kirkus Reviews and averaging about 300 a year.
He first discovered mysteries during a summer stint of violin lessons when he was 12. Left in the school library with instructions to practice, he instead filled the empty hour reading mysteries and became hooked.
His academic career, studying at Columbia and Yale, took precedence over mystery novels for several years, but nine years ago, his interest was revived when he was asked by Kirkus Reviews to critique mystery and suspense books.
What does he look for? "Basically," he said, "I look at what the author is trying to do and how well it's done."
Whether a mystery is "hard-boiled" or "cozy," à la Agatha Christie, there should be a sense of evil, Leitch said. The characters should take murder seriously, because, if they don't, why should the reader?
Leitch admits to little patience with what he calls "formula books" with unimaginative plots and lots of padding. "If I want extraneous information, I will go elsewhere for it," he said.
Although some authors appeal to him less than others, he said he appreciates that these authors are writing for legitimate audiences and tries to be open-minded. For example, when he reviews fiction by Mary Higgins Clark (not one of his favorites), he compares her new book with her other works and evaluates whether she has produced a "good Mary Higgins Clark" (with the "rising curve of tension that she does well"), or a so-so or bad version.
His reviews give a short summary of the plot and brief critiques. He describes Martin J. Wallis' A Likeness in Stone as "an intense, exceptionally accomplished debut." Reviewing Edna Buchanan's book, Pulse, Leitch wrote, "Buchanan rides her irresistible premise hell-for-leather all the way to the fairy-tale ending." Stuart Woods' Swimming to Catalina fared less well-"the debonair attorney-adventurer seems to spend half his time, as the title indicates, in the water-though mostly, like the book itself, treading water or just plain floundering."
Leitch also has written front pieces for Kirkus on reviewing itself. "The Canard of Constructive Reviewing" is his reply to authors who think critics should write how-to-fix-it reviews. "Although I critique my students' work to make them better writers, that is not the role of the reviewer, whose prime responsibility is to readers," Leitch said.
"Bad Trash, Good Trash" was based on Joan Collins lawsuit against her publisher, which had refused to publish her latest effort. Leitch begs the question of what constitutes "bad" or unpublishable trash versus "good" or marketable trash-something a lot of wannabee writers would like to know, he added.
In "Can Reviewers Be Just Plain Wrong?," he points out that although a reviewer may be off the mark in evaluating a book, he or she is never "wrong" because a review is an opinion, however uninformed or misguided the writer may be.
Leitch, who teaches courses on films, has written, among other books, Find the Director and other Hitchcock Games.
He said he also is an unpublished fiction writer, which is a humbling experience. "A fiction writer has to do many things well-plot, characters, milieu, dialog-and when you wrestle with these, you have a greater appreciation of what novelists or short story writers go through," he said.
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"How did I get started as a reviewer? I answered an ad," said Reese, theatre, who has been an entertainment reviewer for Wilmington's Big Shout magazine since the summer of 1996.
"Whenever I see a show, I mentally review it anyhow: Does it work, what is good, what could be improved, the settings and the acting. I also am interested in writing, and this was an opportunity to combine my theatre background and writing," Reese said.
Growing up in Chicago, where he graduated from Columbia College as a drama major, Reese began his theatrical career there as an improvisationist before moving on to Berkeley, Calif. He was there until he came to Delaware eight years ago as production manager for PTTP, where he coordinates rehearsals and performances and makes sure shows are on budget.
During his career, he has worked on stage and backstage-as an improvisationist, actor, director, stage manager and producer-so he is thoroughly and professionally versed in all phases of the theatre.
Among his first efforts was a review of The Hits of Early Broadway, based on old popular songs, the beginnings of musical comedy and the now-defunct sheet music business, produced at the Bristol Riverside Theatre in Pennsylvania. Reese wrote "the formally dressed cast was clearly chosen for their ability to handle the different song styles. With few exceptions, they were more than up to the task," concluding that "anyone interested in the history of the American musical or popular song would get a charge" out of the show.
Laughter on the 23rd Floor by Neil Simon at the Walnut Street Theatre was based on the time when the playwright was a writer for TV comedian Sid Caesar. The director kept the "action moving and the energy high," Reese wrote, adding that the "script's scattershot approach to humor... on balance probably had more misses than hits...but some moments of loud and sustained laughter." In describing the staging, he wrote the "harsh lighting was a metaphor for the pressure these writers must have lived under."
Reese said that he has learned by doing. "My first review was too long and detailed and was cut by my editor so I write more concisely now," he said.
He has also reviewed shows at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, including The Student Prince. "It was a good production but the orchestra drowned out the singers and you could not really hear the words," he recalled.
"When I see a show, the question I ask is what is the intention of a production and does it meet it. Reviewing is an opportunity to build on what I know and enjoy best, plus a chance to write-and it's fun," Reese said.
-Sue Swyers Moncure
