Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR NEC AND NE As a lifelong admirer of Bertram D. Wolfe, it pained me to learn that he had lost his nec ("Between Issues," NL, May 13). And who were you to say him ne? Brooklyn Lewis...
...Berkeley, Calif...
...They are plainly a by-product of the national culture...
...The second major difficulty is that for most Americans the choice of consumer goods, particularly in intellectual fields, is more an act of social participation than the gratification of » personal appetite...
...If American publishing reflects American character it will not be essentially altered by technical or business gimmicks a la Barzun...
...Conversely, an untalked-of book will be ignored by people who might enjoy it...
...The unstated assumption of bolh parlies, the advertiser and his mark, is that there is no longer any point in reading them...
...The book clubs arc strong because they guarantee this...
...They want to read the books their friends are discussing...
...Exactly the same situation prevails with respect to Broadway plays, mo for cars and cigarettes...
...Slightly lower prices and slightly larger sales are all we can hope for, barring a revolution in American values...
...Kichard C. Hottelet's review of A Watcher on the Rhine was the only one I've seen which properly evaluated the book's superficial nature...
...They probably read more than any other people...
...New York City Victor Fox CANDID COMMENT Two reviews in your April 8 issue covered important but usually neglected subjects: Alfred Sundel's review of Herbert Spinden's new book on Mayan art was one of the few knowledgeable discussions of this subject that I have seen in a magazine of general interest...
...How many of these important hooks did you miss...
...This interpretation is confirmed by bookclub advertising...
...Public interest may end so abruptly that the last printing cannot be given away...
...Books are thus best-sellers or money-losers...
...Publishers very sensibly seek to initiate such rumors...
...The trouble is not that Americans do not read...
...They require constant change and stimulation...
...Brooklyn Lewis Reynolds PUBLISHING Some of Jacques Barzun's strictures on American publishing may be warranted {"The Anatomy of Book Publishing," NL, May 13), but the industry's basic troubles cannot fairly be charged to the incompetence of publishers...
...Lawrence Graver Even when I pick up an old issue of The New Leader, it seems current...
...New York City Benjamin Goodman...
...I appreciate the fact that you provide readers with articles and reviews which are not to be found in the slick magazines...
...You're years ahead...
...Sometimes they lie neglected on the 59-cent counter, proving that price is not the obstacle...
...The rumor that a book is going to be a bestseller, or at least widely talked about, insures its purchase by thousands of people who have no interest in its contents...
...A series of important articles, read and discussed by millions, may sell only a few thousand copies in hard covers...
...all freely available...
...But their attention span is very short...
...Hence the enormous proliferation of magazines catering to every interest and level, the newspapers bulging with features and discussions, and the tiny, undependable book market that cannot support efficient production and distribution...
...The short life span of titles is a further consequence...
...A successful book does not automatically become part of a stabilizing back-list, to sell at « slower pace for decades...
...This is followed by a list, not of esoterica, but of last season's hit...
Vol. 40 • May 1957 • No. 21
