http://blog.fawny.org/2007/04/27/monocular/ blog.fawny.org Thu, 26 May 2011 13:52:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4-alpha-19861 http://blog.fawny.org/2007/04/27/monocular/comment-page-1/#comment-944 Third (eye) ‘Monocle’ ¶ Personal Weblog of Joe Clark, Toronto Wed, 30 May 2007 17:23:08 +0000 http://blog.fawny.org/2007/04/27/monocular/#comment-944 [...] Merely a month after release in its homeland, its editor’s homeland finally receives issue three of Monocle (op. cit.). There’s been small decline in quality. [...] [...] Merely a month after release in its homeland, its editor’s homeland finally receives issue three of Monocle (op. cit.). There’s been small decline in quality. [...]

]]> http://blog.fawny.org/2007/04/27/monocular/comment-page-1/#comment-929 A balls-out takedown of Douglas Coupland ¶ Personal Weblog of Joe Clark, Toronto Thu, 03 May 2007 19:13:47 +0000 http://blog.fawny.org/2007/04/27/monocular/#comment-929 [...] Eventually Coupland gets around to complaining about his critical reception. I knew that was gonna happen. “My first novel surprised me with its success,” he states as we are shown a close-up of Generation X. I suppose that’s consistent with how many publishers rejected it first. Critics kept dismissing him as overly American in tone, content, or influence. It’s a fair cop, of course. Unlike Tyler Brûlé, he’s the wrong kind of transnational Trudeau-era Canadian. You’re supposed to be really transnational; you aren’t supposed to just move to Palm Springs and set your novels in the States. “Because now I’m doing books on Canada, and ‘Nope, still not Canadian,’ ” he complains, using a curious turn of phrase (“doing books”) that makes sense in some ways: They’re just little art objects to him, literally feedstock. Best-selling art objects that produce millions in revenue, but objects nonetheless. Certainly not something to be read. [...] [...] Eventually Coupland gets around to complaining about his critical reception. I knew that was gonna happen. “My first novel surprised me with its success,” he states as we are shown a close-up of Generation X. I suppose that’s consistent with how many publishers rejected it first. Critics kept dismissing him as overly American in tone, content, or influence. It’s a fair cop, of course. Unlike Tyler Brûlé, he’s the wrong kind of transnational Trudeau-era Canadian. You’re supposed to be really transnational; you aren’t supposed to just move to Palm Springs and set your novels in the States. “Because now I’m doing books on Canada, and ‘Nope, still not Canadian,’ ” he complains, using a curious turn of phrase (“doing books”) that makes sense in some ways: They’re just little art objects to him, literally feedstock. Best-selling art objects that produce millions in revenue, but objects nonetheless. Certainly not something to be read. [...]

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