Myers, B.R. 1963- (Brian R. Myers, Brian Reynolds Myers)

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Myers, B.R. 1963- (Brian R. Myers, Brian Reynolds Myers)

PERSONAL:

Born 1963, in NJ; married Myunghee Ko. Education: Ruhr University, Bochum, South Korea, M.A. 1989; University of Tübingen, Ph.D., 1992.

ADDRESSES:

Home—South Korea.

CAREER:

Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, faculty member, 2001-05; Inje University, Busan, South Korea, assistant professor, 2005-06; Dongseo University, Busan, South Korea, researcher; has also taught German in Japan and worked for an automobile manufacturer in China.

WRITINGS:

Han Sorya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK, East Asia Program, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), 1994.

A Reader's Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose, Melville House (Hoboken, NJ), 2002.

Also contributor to periodicals, including the New York Times, Korea Times, and Wall Street Journal. Contributing editor, Atlantic Monthly.

SIDELIGHTS:

B.R. Myers was born in America and has lived in the United States and various other countries, including South Korea. He is an academic, and his interests include North Korean history, society, and politics. In the summer of 2001, Myers raised many eyebrows in the literary community when he came out with a scathing analysis in the Atlantic of some of America's most noted writers, including Don Delilo and Annie Proulx. The expanded version of his essay was published in 2002 as A Reader's Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose. In the book the author discusses what he calls the "bad writing" of Delilo, Proulx, Cormac McCarthy, David Gutterson, and Paul Auster, with a focus on both the authors' style and matters of content. Among the books discussed are Blood Meridian, The Body Artist, White Noise, Beloved, and Snow Falling on Cedars. Not only does the author provide a more comprehensive criticism of these authors in his book as compared to his article, but he also takes the opportunity to rebut many of those who criticized his original analyses of these American writers.

Critics generally praised A Reader's Manifesto, despite the fact that the author's critique also includes many of the critics themselves for their approval of what he considers bad books. "What makes this entertaining book so important isn't the … relative correctness of Myers's argument … but that … someone has dared to say, with energy and insight, what many have privately concluded," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. A Complete Review contributor commented that "A Reader's Manifesto is a short book and, despite the many examples of bad writing on offer, a breezy, entertaining read." The reviewer went on to write that "Myers' book will have served its purpose if it helps readers feel more confident in their own judgements—and teaches them that there are few people less reliable than critics of any sort."

Despite several positive reviews, some critics did not agree with all of Myers's judgments. For example, writing on GoodReports.net, a contributor commented: "While I would quarrel over some matters of taste, he is a responsible critic. And his declaration that taste and sensibility are all that any of us need to distinguish good books from bad books has rarely seemed so necessary." James Marcus, writing on the House of Mirth blog, noted that he "had to agree with at least some of the thwacking that Myers administered," while adding that Myers "tends to approach English sentences like an efficiency expert." A contributor to Blogcritics.org concluded: "Although I don't agree with all of his choices, I agree with the underlying sentiment."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Books in Canada, January-February, 2003, Harold Hoefle, review of A Reader's Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose.

Entertainment Weekly, October 4, 2002, Troy Patterson, review of A Reader's Manifesto, p. 148.

Far Eastern Economic Review, March 2, 1995, Ann Lee, "Birth of a Hero: Han Sorya and North Korean Literature," review of Han Sorya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK, p. 39.

Korea Journal, summer, 1994, review of Han Sorya and North Korean Literature, p. 122.

New Criterion, December, 2002, Mark Bauerlein, review of A Reader's Manifesto, p. 84.

Pacific Affairs, spring, 1995, Kichung Kim, review of Han Sorya and North Korean Literature, p. 127.

Publishers Weekly, September 2, 2002, review of A Reader's Manifesto, p. 73.

World Literature Today, winter, 1995, Yearn Hong Choi, review of Han Sorya and North Korean Literature, p. 229.