Circle of clichés
that damnable “reviewese”:
When did you last come across the words “coruscating” or “magisterial”? It’s unlikely to have been in a holiday brochure or a recipe. Surely it was on the back of a book or in a book review. …
“magisterial” i hear now and then, but i think the last time i heard “coruscating” was in the movie jabberwocky.
…Reviewese isn’t confined to book reviewers; it pervades the literary world. A lot of it comes from book-jacket blurbs, which produce a repertoire of sentences that publishers would like to see in book reviews. This literary lingo consists of words, constructions and formulations few English speakers use, but that sound true if used about books. I started to notice it everywhere, and began keeping a list of phrases that recurred and jarred. …
two sisters of reviewese are the letter-to-the-editor and article styles. i launch into article style now and then as an authoritative crutch, but i hope i’ve cured myself of letter-to-the-editor, which i used into my mid 20s. my worst problem is that i say fuck, bullshit, scoundrel, tyrant, idiot, dumbass, etc., too much. have not yet been reduced to using the trendy “asshat“, and i will continue to avoid it with vigor — a veritably turgid vigor… if you will.