Comments on: Interview with Aaron Gwyn

By: virginiafreedman

virginiafreedman — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:56:34 +0000

Author comparisons on book jackets can be lazy, especially with Southern writers. The Southern Gothic label, the “Southern grotesque” label is slapped on book jackets a lot.

Great! Someone is reading the blog.

By: edsouthern

edsouthern — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:33:38 +0000

To be fair to Virginia, she was merely commenting on a comparison made on the book’s jacket, not making the comparison herself. Subject matter and theme, though, are pretty good building blocks for a worthwhile comparison. Comparisons between writers can be useful, but are too often carried too far: “New Writer X is like a cross between Established Author Y and Established Author Z.” Those sorts of comparisons are just symptoms of laziness.

By: mckennal

mckennal — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:23:28 +0000

I’ve read _Dog on the Cross_ and, I don’t think the comparison to Flannery O’Conner is either helpful or apropos. What’s the similarity beyond subject matter and theme? They are very different writers and need to be understood in their own right. But comparisons between writers are like babies: they’re inevitable even though some people would be definitely better for having not made them.