and is permitted by the New York Times Book Review to bury it in the back of Clancy Martin’s first novel. I mean c’mon. McCarthy is basically right, but he could have deployed this exact same argument against any number of more established authors, instead of against this clearly talented first-time novelist for whom a crappy review in the NYTBR constitutes a serious blow to his career.
McCarthy’s justification for deploying his ire against Martin is the fact that the book… has overly positive blurbs on it! If only Benjamin Kunkel, that established literary arbiter other first-time novelist, had reined in his praise just a little, then Martin might have snagged the front page after all.
