short stories  ~  poetry  ~  canadian small press stuff  ~ celebrating 5 years of insignificance

[Home] [Fiction] [Poetry] [Reviews] [Features] [Submissions] [Links] [Letters]


TDR Letter

January 1, 2004

Subject: Shane Neilson's response to TDR's John MacKenzie interview

Mr. Neilson,

I was ready to give some of the criticisms in your letter serious thought until I came to the phrase "tenditiously punctuated prose." Problem is, I can't find the word "tenditiously" in any dictionary. Perhaps you meant to use the adverbial form of "tendentious," which is generally understood to mean to be biased towards a particular point of view, or to support an unpopular opinion. But perhaps you didn't, since you say my responses were "cautious, vague, and boring" which pretty much rules out me being tendentious. Or perhaps you meant that my punctuation holds unpopular opinions -- I really can't be sure (particularly about how punctuation might be able to hold any opinions, unpopular, or not).

In any case, any criticisms you might have of the interview, or of the poems which appeared with it, are undermined by your apparent lack of command of the English language and your seeming obliviousness to that lack. Such carelessness is appalling in a person purporting to care about literary matters. Effective criticism requires coherently expressed thought. Carelessness destroys coherence.

John MacKenzie

 

[Home] [Fiction] [Poetry] [Reviews] [Features] [Submissions] [Links] [Letters]

The Danforth Review is produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. All content is copyright of its creator and cannot be copied, printed, or downloaded without the consent of its creator. The Danforth Review is edited by Michael Bryson. Poetry Editors are Geoff Cook and Shane Neilson. Reviews Editors are Anthony Metivier (fiction) and Erin Gouthro (poetry). TDR alumnus officio: K.I. Press. All views expressed are those of the writer only. International submissions are encouraged. The Danforth Review is archived in the National Library of Canada. ISSN 1494-6114. 

Contact The Danforth Review   

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $19.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada. Nous remercions de son soutien le Conseil des Arts du Canada, qui a investi 19,1 millions de dollars l'an dernier dans les lettres et l'édition à travers le Canada.