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Among the Intellectualoids
Special Thanks to Spot
(Page 2 of 2)
IF YOU ARE A ROOKIE A-PAGER, here are a few rules of thumb: Keep outright groveling to a minimum. Ditto nods to the dead. Skip the proffered thanks to the editor-in-chief of your publishing house; she won't read it. If you are an orphaned writer (and still got your book published), omit reference to your editor, unless you know the circumstances of his departure. Never acknowledge a lawyer. When thanking Amanda Urban, it's inappropriate to include the modifier "super agent," and never put "Binky" in quotes.
If you are a citizen non-writer who expected to be acknowledged but wasn't, start your next campaign now. Offer your writer friend your summer house. Bring over fresh-baked cookies. Research the subject matter of his book and e-mail links. Leave lipsticked messages of encouragement on her mirror after you've walked her dog. Never use the word "deadline" in a sentence.
It's possible to get excessively riled about Acknowledgments, with their false humility, gushy spousal odes, and numbing lists. Joseph Epstein, essayist and former editor of the American Scholar, takes a more mature view. "Acknowledgments are the literary equivalent of tipping," says Epstein, "but with Monopoly money." Thanks, Joe.
Jonathan Black, a former managing editor of Playboy, is the author of Yes You Can! Behind the Hype and Hustle of the Motivation Biz (Bloomsbury).
Comments
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frost| 2.17.09 @ 8:46AM
Don't know much about that page, but the book my wife accomplished, a dissertation for her Ph.D. was dedicated to me.
Let me tell you, it was a pretty terrific feeling, and all I did was cook breakfast 'n do some laundry...
Jack Olson| 2.17.09 @ 10:15AM
Am I the only one who has noticed the similar proliferation of credits at the ends of movies? Look at a typical movie from the 1940's and you will see about two dozen credits, mostly members of the cast. But, when I put my video player on slow motion at the end of a more recent movie, "Casino", I counted three hundred credits not including the song credits. Every truck driver, caterer, carpenter, electrician, accountant, and many job titles I couldn't identify, was listed in those credits. I wouldn't be surprised if the acknowledgements section of recent books show a similar elephantiasis.
Marc Jeric| 2.17.09 @ 11:30AM
I am retired and so I read a lot. After glancing at the acknowledgement page with some 200 names and flowery prose of compliments, I ask myself if the writer has done anything himself. And I wonder at those pitiable efforts at international sophistication - like "Buenas dias" or "Bonne Jour". You mean that with 200 people on the acknowledgment pages none of them has any idea of Spanish and French?
the-gunslinger| 2.17.09 @ 12:04PM
Longer than 4 lines, I don't read 'em; undisciplined indulgent nonsense.
Astro| 2.17.09 @ 1:28PM
Not satisfied at naming 9 women on the Acknowledgements page of "Variable Star", Spider Robinson adds 10 and a half pages of acknowledgements he calls an 'Afterword'.
Awful book, by the way. Any resemblance to anything written by Heinlein is accidental.
Pingback| 2.18.09 @ 2:06AM
Topics about Dogs and Life with Pets » Special Thanks to Spot links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Solomon Disraeli| 2.18.09 @ 8:26PM
The A-page is purely for the people who are listed on it. I wouldn't read it. Who cares who all those people are?
Alan Brooks| 3.2.09 @ 4:25PM
I remember seeing all the credits at the end of Casino!
and Goodfellas too.
but they were pretty much worth it.
however if Porky's Revenge revealed all the kitchen dishwashers in the studio, then maybe it wouldn't be the same.
Pingback| 3.7.09 @ 5:31AM
The Gratuitous Gratitude of Book Acknowledgments - Ideas Blog - NYTimes.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Betsy| 3.8.09 @ 10:52AM
Apparently I'm the only one who loves reading acknowledgments. They give the reader insight into the training and intellectual community of the author, which is often something that shapes the argument of the book; and they allow for a bit more humor and personality to show through than is usually possible in the rest of an academic text.
The myth of the solitary writer is just that, so I think it's great that the people who make the book possible can be thanked publicly. If it weren't for those research assistants and librarians so disparagingly mentioned above, you may be assured the book would not exist in its current form.
Pingback| 3.12.09 @ 5:29PM
- First Drafts - The Prospect magazine blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Phil| 3.13.09 @ 9:13PM
Congratulations, you wrote a two-page article droning on about your dislike of long acknowledgments. You're an obnoxious curmudgeon. No one is making you read that crap, and I'm sure the people mentioned get a nice feeling out of it. Not to mention that in many books the acknowledgments can give a lot of interesting insight into who was involved in the making of a book or how the book originated.
Bart King| 3.18.09 @ 12:15PM
This article provided inspiration for a whole blog entry! I'd like to dedicate it thusly: "To Jonathan Black, with gratitude and appreciation."
http://bartkings.blogspot.com/2009/03/mom-this-is-for-you-or-unacknowledging.html
Pingback| 4.8.09 @ 3:34AM
Per chiudere qualche tab » La quarta bozza links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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The dead audio rcafrom Saturday's crash include three fathers and their three teenage sons. The private plane carried a wbt rcafamily from Pennsylvania, and the helicopter held five Italian tourists celebrating a couple's 25th wedding anniversary.
The plane approached the helicopter, wbt binding postswhich had just taken off for a 12-minute tour, from behind and clipped it with a wing,wbt rca type sockets
Searchers fought swift currents, wbt rca type plugsdealt with visibility as low as one foot, and dodged debris dumped along the river bottom as they brought four more bodies on to boats. One was found in the fuselage of the helicopter, New Jersey State Police Sgt. cmcStephen Jones said. Two bodies remained missing.
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