Put Your Boots On

Oh, Canada

If you make it to a top 10 list as a writer that’s worth mentioning on your CV, during interviews and when “casually” trying to impress your date. But we hope you never make it to the top 10 Overrated Candaian Authors list. Since the Huffington Post and the Guardian recently ran their version of overratedness, Canada’s taking its turn now. And yikes! These reviews are brutal with scathing adjectives such as “solipsistic, humorless, and alienating” grovelling nouns like “tragedy and farce.” If you really want to get your acerbic on, check this one out. And be sure to check back once more for the National Press version of 10 Underrated Canadian Authors. But, hey why even bother with it, for all we know these could be of the top 10 most overrated articles.

If you’re digging this, there’s always more literary shit-talking right here: The Stranger does a great job making fun of some dude who wrote a French memoir with a Russian novel theme. If you’ve ever wondered how bad it can get, keep reading.

In the same literary/art scorching tune, the Huffington Post coughs out with rolled eyes:

The transformation and institutionalization of the art world over the last few decades, to be sure, is hardly different. Many artists I know, including myself, have awoken hungover on its well-manicured lawn, littered with Murakamis and MFAs, tended and fertilized by the pre-recession boom. There we go, herded from exhibition to exhibition to museum show, onward and upward as we climb the ladder toward art world heaven.

But here, Kimberly Brooks takes on art and poetry and suggests a solution. She calls it 7 Rings and says it will feature  7 artists responding to their peer’s work within 7 days. OK, so in the same aforementioned theme of just guttural crudeness we say “Wow, omigod that is sooooo progressive.”

But two things, Kim. If you’re trying to help all those underworked and overstimulated creative types out there littering your lawn how’s it going to help us underclass wannabes if every feautured participant is a literary-awarded big name like Nick Flynn? Oh and the second thing: the only reason we’re showing up for this hot party is because of Nick Flynn. Otherwise, it just sounds like Another Bullshit Night in Literary-Suck City. — Lori Huskey

Video: Nick Flynn’s Poetry