"Technically our novelists (for instance) are shrewd enough, and publishers and reviewers seem, as never before, eager to be of use. Nevertheless, wherever we look it's the same: commercial slickness, misplaced cleverness, posturing, wild floundering -- dullness. Though not widely advertised, this is general knowledge. When one talks with editors of serious fiction, they all sound the same: they speak of their pleasure and satisfaction in their work, but more often than not the editor cannot think, under the moment's pressure, of a single contemporary writer he really enjoys reading. Some deny, even publicly, that any first-rate American novelists now exist. The ordinary reader has been saying that for years..."
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Fantasy authorsAcademics from the United StatesEssayists from the United StatesChildren's authorsEducators from the United States
Original Language: English
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pp. 56-57 (in the HarperCollins BasicBooks edition), "Premises on Art and Morality"
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Gardner_(American_writer)
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John Gardner (American writer)
John Champlin Gardner Jr. (July 21, 1933 – September 14, 1982) was an American novelist, essayist, literary critic and university professor. He published ten volumes of criticism, five books for children, two works of poetry, two collections of short stories, and eight novels. He died in a motorcycle accident at age 49.
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