Comments on: Acknowledgment Envy

By: Justine Larbalestier » A New Musing

Justine Larbalestier » A New Musing — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 03:08:47 +0000

[...] Tingle Alley’s posts and comments on acknowledgements got me all inspired and I wrote a new musing about it. Enjoy and feel free to comment on it here. [...]

By: Edward Champion’s Return of the Reluctant » The Bat Segundo Show #4

Edward Champion’s Return of the Reluctant » The Bat Segundo Show #4 — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 20:50:17 +0000

[...] Subjects Discussed: Stalking, dark comedy, intense behavior, Harriet Klausner, chick lit, keeping lists, sex, the politically incorrect, the menage a trois, class-based characters, free time, book tours, the relationship between publishers and online literary venues, FSG and Christopher Sorrentino’s Trance, the next generation of writers (McSweeney’s as homogeneous voice?), the telegenic requirements of writers, the cult of personality, clarifying the “Reading at Risk” controversy, the intentions of Bookmark Now, literary standards vs. enthusiasm, the Iliad as logline, responding to the “writing in unreaderly times” flap, individual vs. group reading, explaning the Nicholson Baker acknowledment. [...]

By: Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Lauren Baratz-Logsted — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 13:47:26 +0000

I’m a sucker for writing Acks, even though I’ve been burned in cases where by the time the book is pubbed the relationships have soured or, ahem, the agent has been fired (twice). But I go on being Pollyanna, a kitchen-sink Ack-er who will go on thanking nearly everyone in Warner Bros style until the hook yanks me off the stage. That said, I’ve consciously in the past avoided Ack-ing the more famous people I know – although I do plan on dedicating a book to one of them at one point – because I figured I might not be doing them such a great favor: “Hey, guys, Turow and Cunningham may be too busy to help anyone, but let’s all go sic Author X – he’s a sap!”

By: CAAF

CAAF — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 04:15:18 +0000

p.s. I meant to say, Justine, that I remember reading an article recently that tracked the dedicatees of a certain novel. Or maybe an author was himself fessing up to swapping names over editions … but I can’t remember where.

By: CAAF

CAAF — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 04:13:19 +0000

Jenny, I do need to read Heredity — I can’t wait to! And I’ve heard awfully nice things about JCO and glad that she came to the rescue at a low time; she seems genuinely interested in being a mentor, which is big of her considering her own hypergraphic schedule. (p.s. I’ve replied sort of to your comment also in the post above, responding to Justine, vis a vis the lengthy time to produce a novel and the ensuing increase in one’s acknowledgments. Sorry about that vis a vis by the way; yuck.) I want to hear more about the Coetzee – and sometime when I’m in Manhattan I’ll tell you my funny Caz Phillips story, which isn’t really that funny but may seem so after one or two drinks.

Michael, speaking of scholarly books, I’m reading one quasi-scholarly volume now, and as a friend pointed out who was looking at it, it’s odd as the author thanks Iain Pears (Instance of the Fingerpost) in the acknowledgments. I don’t know why we found this amusing/interesting; perhaps just as a non sequiter… I hope they never compare sales totals. It would be dismaying for a scholar, I imagine.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 19:22:52 +0000

I read acknowledgments all the time, and for the same reason: somehow, some way my mind tells me that the mentioning of certain names will legitimize a book, which, of course, isn’t logical, but I do it anyway. (When I was a wayward academic, I always checked the acknowledgments in scholarly books to make sure the “big names” were there; and, if they weren’t, I’d unfairly assume that perhaps the book in hand wasn’t as good as it could be.) As far as knowing the person acknowledged, I don’t know if that’s necessary. If and when I published a book, I just might make a nod to John Milton, even though he’s been dead for 330 years.

By: Jenny D

Jenny D — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 19:02:09 +0000

Justine, I was really happy when one of the blurbs on the UK edition of my novel named Georgette Heyer–she’s alluded to in the novel (which is completely un-Heyer like in its vibe) as well, her books are really unbeatable of their kind… I am sort of ashamed of my acknowledgments for HEREDITY. Basically it took me 10 years to write that novel (if you count from when I first started researching to when it was actually published–real writing time more like 4 years, which still sounds discouragingly slow). So my acknowledgments are ridiculously long, especially because I was SHAMEFULLY ready to approach any writer I met and ask them to read my manuscript. I am really mortified in retrospect–because I was at a fancy grad school doing my PhD, it meant I came across a lot of ridiculously well-known writers and pestered them. I was young and foolish and they were all really kind and didn’t tell me to buzz off! Believe me, I am not boasting, just confessing my shamefully forward requests to (among others, God this is embarrassing) J. M. Coetzee, John Hollander, Caryl Phillips and Joyce Carol Oates! How awful of me… I must say that Joyce Carol Oates in particular gave me great encouragement at a low point when I had despaired of ever getting the damn thing published, but the others were really good too. As a result I now read pretty much anything anyone asks me to, out of shame and retrospective gratitude. CAAF, you definitely must include James W. in yours!

By: Justine Larbalestier

Justine Larbalestier — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 17:43:00 +0000

I love checking out acknowledgments and dedications! I’m always grumpy with writers who don’t thank anyone.

Extra points when you spot the same name on the back blurbing the book and inside being acknowledged. We live in a small and incestous world.

There’s one sf author who’s, let’s say, tempermental and is forever changing the dedicatee of a book as it goes through different editions. If you can get your hands on all different editions of a particular books you can trace the paths of this writer’s friendships with some dedicatees being dropped and then reinstated and then dropped again. Fabulous.

Absolutely, you don’t have to know a person to acknowledge them. I’m going to start putting Georgette Heyer in my acks, she’s probably the biggest influence on my writing. Her or Enid Blyton.

By: Jimmy Beck

Jimmy Beck — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 16:55:40 +0000

You remind me of one of my all-time fave Loudon Wainwright songs: The Grammy Song (c. 1981):

Last night I dreamed I won a Grammy
It was presented to me by Debbie Harry
I ran up on stage in my tux
I gulped and I said “Aw Shucks.
I’d like to thank my producer…and Jesus Christ.”