Literary hatchet-job of the year - A A Gill review of "Autobiography" nominated

Re: Literary hatchet-job of the year - and the winner is...

In the Gill article, he sounds embittered to the point where his physical dislike is almost tangible.
A deserved winner.
Nice, short but sweet response to it too.
Thank you.
Regards,
FWD
 
Some of you may recall this link I posted some time ago...

Well, that review has won an award, of sorts. The Independent has named that review the winner of the Literary Hatchet-Job Of The Year...

Hatchet Job of the Year 2014: And this year’s prize for the best literary hatchet job goes to... - The Independent
A A Gill, Peter Kemp and David Sexton in the running for the award that celebrates the year's most acerbic, entertaining critical put-downs

...The prize will be awarded on 11 February.

Here it is in the newspaper itself (yesterday's paper)...

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And here's a response in today's paper...

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Related item:

 
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"Brought to you by The Omnivore, The Hatchet Job of the Year Award is for the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months. It aims to raise the profile of professional critics and to promote integrity and wit in literary journalism."

http://www.theomnivore.com/hatchetjoboftheyear/

Gill's review is angry, funny and trenchant, so its inclusion is perfectly reasonable. Gill is actually a very fine writer, and many of his reviews are legendary in their bile.

Gill's "listed crime" seems to be not what he said but the person he said it about. The sycophancy found within Morrissey's immediate circle and a few posters here does not extend beyond those places, so Morrissey is fair game. There does seem an underlying theme that good reviews can be published but bad reviews cannot.

As I mentioned at the time my view was that Autobiography was a rather good book about a rather bad person. It is true that Gill is not a very nice human being, but neither is Morrissey. We know this from their writings.
 
Agree 100% Gill is such a bitch. He slagged off Professor of Classics Mary Beard in another article. Those who cannot do...
 
Agree 100% Gill is such a bitch. He slagged off Professor of Classics Mary Beard in another article. Those who cannot do...

The same Mary Beard who herself was nominated for Hatchet Job of the Year in 2012 for her review of Rome by Robert Hughes.
 
The same Mary Beard who herself was nominated for Hatchet Job of the Year in 2012 for her review of Rome by Robert Hughes.

Hmmm I'm pretty sure she reviewed his art and not the way Robert Hughes looked.
 
AA Gill is a well-known right wing snob. A vile character of the worst kind. Not that there's a right kind, of course.
 
Did I say she did?

No, do I have to reply to everything you say or can I make oblique reference to what I feel is the difference between the two. Besides Mary Beard is an expert in her field. A.A. Gill is not a music critic or a musician for that matter.
 
No, do I have to reply to everything you say or can I make oblique reference to what I feel is the difference between the two. Besides Mary Beard is an expert in her field. A.A. Gill is not a music critic or a musician for that matter.

He is a professional critic, of music, the arts and food. Just because you don't like what he said that doesn't change that simple fact.

I've seen a couple of Winnie Beard programmes. Not a patch on Richard Holmes or David Starkey, but miles better than Dan Snow.
 
AA Gill is a well-known right wing snob. A vile character of the worst kind. Not that there's a right kind, of course.


The first time I came across the name AA Gill I immediately visualised the food critic 'Gil' from Frasier.

But immediate visualisations aside, what difference do AA Gill's political leanings (re: right wing snob) make to the overall construct of his character? A vile character is a vile character, politics notwithstanding, surely? Have you ever met a left wing snob? Take a quick scan through the articles on The Guardian website and you'll encounter your fair share. Or are they less vile for being on the left? If, at the end of the Morrissey hatchet-job, Gill wrote "P.S. Greater Manchester is a much 'greater' place now than it was in 1959, for two reasons: 1) Morrissey left it, and 2) the Asian population has grown exponentially during that time - take that Mr. 'the Chinese are a subspecies'", how vile would his character be then? Moderately, but at least he's not a bigot? Or, at least not the 'wrong' kind of bigot - he has made some truly disgusting remarks about the Welsh, the English, and the Manx, but they're all white and working class so who would blink an eyelid? Nobody on The Guardian's writing staff anyway.

Here's some left-wing bigotry direct from The Guardian comment section, but this might be the elusive "right kind" of vile character which you claimed didn't exist.

1178rhs.jpg
 
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The first time I came across the name AA Gill I immediately visualised the food critic 'Gil' from Frasier.

But immediate visualisations aside, what difference do AA Gill's political leanings (re: right wing snob) make to the overall construct of his character? A vile character is a vile character, politics notwithstanding, surely? Have you ever met a left wing snob? Take a quick scan through the articles on The Guardian website and you'll encounter your fair share. Or are they less vile for being on the left? If, at the end of the Morrissey hatchet-job, Gill wrote "P.S. Greater Manchester is a much 'greater' place now than it was in 1959, for two reasons: 1) Morrissey left it, and 2) the Asian population has grown exponentially during that time - take that Mr. 'the Chinese are a subspecies'", how vile would his character be then? Moderately, but at least he's not a bigot? Or, at least not the 'wrong' kind of bigot - he has made some truly disgusting remarks about the Welsh, the English, and the Manx, but they're all white and working class so who would blink an eyelid? Nobody on The Guardian's writing staff anyway.

Here's some left-wing bigotry direct from The Guardian comment section, but this might be the elusive "right kind" of vile character which you claimed didn't exist.

1178rhs.jpg
Is this Ali?
 
"Brought to you by The Omnivore, The Hatchet Job of the Year Award is for the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months. It aims to raise the profile of professional critics and to promote integrity and wit in literary journalism."

http://www.theomnivore.com/hatchetjoboftheyear/

Gill's review is angry, funny and trenchant, so its inclusion is perfectly reasonable. Gill is actually a very fine writer, and many of his reviews are legendary in their bile.

Gill's "listed crime" seems to be not what he said but the person he said it about. The sycophancy found within Morrissey's immediate circle and a few posters here does not extend beyond those places, so Morrissey is fair game. There does seem an underlying theme that good reviews can be published but bad reviews cannot.

As I mentioned at the time my view was that Autobiography was a rather good book about a rather bad person. It is true that Gill is not a very nice human being, but neither is Morrissey. We know this from their writings.

I only heard about Gill's review of the book, never read it. The last time I read A.A Gill he was reviewing Krisy Kreme Doughnuts (think he got a free trip to Vegas for research?), not sure I would listen to his literary views. I mean, I admire people being diverse and people who can multi-task (I can't), but reviewing a sugar doughnut and a memoir? The man is like margerine, spread too thin! As long as the Blonde loves him STILL, all is well I guess.
 

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