The Emperor Has No Clothes
Where to begin? I'll start with a restaurant and segue into literature. Nowadays we have celebrity chefs...iron chefs...a whole lotta chefs...and a lot of us fall victim to the Emperor Has No Clothes Syndrome.
I have this restaurant rule - If I try a new place and my first experience is less than stellar, I'll give the place another try. Everyone has a bad day. Maybe the chef got sick or the sous chef was late or the pastry chef quit...having owned a restaurant myself and worked in and around restaurants since I was a kid (family business), I get it. If my second visit to a restaurant is mediocre or worse...I will not be back. Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice...well...you can't fool me again...
So there's this restaurant owned by a famous chef. I've applied my two-tries rule and both times, the food has been, not just bad, but inedible. In fact, I was so appalled by my experiences that I got myself an identity on Chowhound and posted a review - and then the Emperor Has No Clothes Syndrome kicked into high gear and other posters climbed all over each other in their haste to call me an idiot, a raving lunatic, a stupid-head-dope, a weirdo, a druggie...they claimed I must have some personal vendetta against the chef - I don't even know the chef - they said I had no taste buds, no taste, couldn't tell the difference between gourmet food and fast food - I couldn't believe the creative insults posters came up with. I was about to delete my post altogether when a few quiet voices spoke up and said, cautiously, I agree with you - I ate at that restaurant and had a similar experience and I've been terrified to post about it - Hey, if what happened to me is any indication, of course they'd be reluctant to post! Shit...I'll never post on Chowhound again!
Now I'm getting into the scary part of my post - the Emperor Has No Clothes Syndrome as it applies to popular literature. I read. A lot. Always have, always will. All genres. I've been reading, literally, since I was eighteen months old. Yeah...rolling-eyes...precocious...I know. Over the past year, my sister has recommended two books to me that have been loved, adored, venerated, and promoted by New York literary critics. I checked out the reviews my sister mentioned and based upon those reviews, I thought, yeah, sounds good, haven't read anything all that great in a while - and I bought the books. Both of them sucked. I mean, they sucked eggs. And it left me wondering, what were the critics reading? What on earth was my sister reading? When I asked her, she came right out and said that she has more faith in critics than she does in her own brain.
I know that when it comes to literature, almost everything is a matter of opinion and personal taste - I'm clear on the concept. But when I did a bit more research on these two books in particular, I found a number of very quiet, cautious, even fearful hands raised by other literary critics saying what I believe to be closer to the truth - that the books were poorly written, but for some reason, the authors were the present day darlings of the publishing world and to write a critical review was to go against the grain, to fight against the current, to risk ostracism and name-calling similar to what I experienced on Chowhound. It would mean stating the obvious, that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes.
This is one of the few controversial posts you will ever read from me. I do not like controversy and I respect authors, legitimate literary criticism, chefs, food writers and food critics. There is a great deal to be learned from a critic who says - I didn't love the book and here's why...or I liked the book a lot but I wish...or I understood the author's intent but the expression of ideas was...
If I was a celebrity chef and somebody had a lousy experience at my showpiece, I'd want to know about it - and by the way - before I posted my review on Chowhound, I did call the restaurant to tell the manager, politely, how disappointed I was in my two experiences - experiences which involved sending multiple courses back to the kitchen to the vast irritation of our server. The manager's response? So what? Read the reviews. Everyone else loves us.
I have this restaurant rule - If I try a new place and my first experience is less than stellar, I'll give the place another try. Everyone has a bad day. Maybe the chef got sick or the sous chef was late or the pastry chef quit...having owned a restaurant myself and worked in and around restaurants since I was a kid (family business), I get it. If my second visit to a restaurant is mediocre or worse...I will not be back. Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice...well...you can't fool me again...
So there's this restaurant owned by a famous chef. I've applied my two-tries rule and both times, the food has been, not just bad, but inedible. In fact, I was so appalled by my experiences that I got myself an identity on Chowhound and posted a review - and then the Emperor Has No Clothes Syndrome kicked into high gear and other posters climbed all over each other in their haste to call me an idiot, a raving lunatic, a stupid-head-dope, a weirdo, a druggie...they claimed I must have some personal vendetta against the chef - I don't even know the chef - they said I had no taste buds, no taste, couldn't tell the difference between gourmet food and fast food - I couldn't believe the creative insults posters came up with. I was about to delete my post altogether when a few quiet voices spoke up and said, cautiously, I agree with you - I ate at that restaurant and had a similar experience and I've been terrified to post about it - Hey, if what happened to me is any indication, of course they'd be reluctant to post! Shit...I'll never post on Chowhound again!
Now I'm getting into the scary part of my post - the Emperor Has No Clothes Syndrome as it applies to popular literature. I read. A lot. Always have, always will. All genres. I've been reading, literally, since I was eighteen months old. Yeah...rolling-eyes...precocious...I know. Over the past year, my sister has recommended two books to me that have been loved, adored, venerated, and promoted by New York literary critics. I checked out the reviews my sister mentioned and based upon those reviews, I thought, yeah, sounds good, haven't read anything all that great in a while - and I bought the books. Both of them sucked. I mean, they sucked eggs. And it left me wondering, what were the critics reading? What on earth was my sister reading? When I asked her, she came right out and said that she has more faith in critics than she does in her own brain.
I know that when it comes to literature, almost everything is a matter of opinion and personal taste - I'm clear on the concept. But when I did a bit more research on these two books in particular, I found a number of very quiet, cautious, even fearful hands raised by other literary critics saying what I believe to be closer to the truth - that the books were poorly written, but for some reason, the authors were the present day darlings of the publishing world and to write a critical review was to go against the grain, to fight against the current, to risk ostracism and name-calling similar to what I experienced on Chowhound. It would mean stating the obvious, that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes.
This is one of the few controversial posts you will ever read from me. I do not like controversy and I respect authors, legitimate literary criticism, chefs, food writers and food critics. There is a great deal to be learned from a critic who says - I didn't love the book and here's why...or I liked the book a lot but I wish...or I understood the author's intent but the expression of ideas was...
If I was a celebrity chef and somebody had a lousy experience at my showpiece, I'd want to know about it - and by the way - before I posted my review on Chowhound, I did call the restaurant to tell the manager, politely, how disappointed I was in my two experiences - experiences which involved sending multiple courses back to the kitchen to the vast irritation of our server. The manager's response? So what? Read the reviews. Everyone else loves us.
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