Talk:Michiko Kakutani

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Contents 1 Re: Name. 2 Re: Harry Potter Section 3 Re: POV 4 Re: Mailer 5 Re: 'practicing Christian' 6 Sources needed

[edit] Re: Name.

I have corrected the romanization of the Japanese version of MK's name, which happens to be the same as how it's written in English, only in surname-personal name order. The apostrophe was simply unnecessary; the word and character 子 is "ko こ" -- not a long sound, as had been indicated. Please look in any Japanese dictionary to confirm this (e.g., http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C). 130.54.104.138 02:46, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Harry Potter Section

This section is totally irrelevant, and only appears because of the current hype surrounding the release of the new book. When judged over the scale of her work, this is a non-event and I see no reason why it should include a section of its own. It should be removed.

I attempted to incorporate your suggestion by directing those interested in this controversy toward the comprehensive accounting of the facts - including the signed complaints of many Harry Potter fans - which appears on The New York Times website. We'll see if others are satisfied with this approach. - 02:22, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: POV

Regarding a potential POV issue. I largely rewrote this article and consciously used the term 'laughable' to describe Kakatuni's use of the word limn in her reviews. I did so specifically because her use of the word prompted her more trenchant opponents to laugh at her (follow the links). This is not, therefore, a POV issue. Another term may be more applicable, but it needs at any event to convey the implicit polemics. Dottore So 22:36, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Mailer

Um, I don't think we need to have Norman Mailer's complaints about Kakutani. Wikipedia is a collection of facts, not a collection of opinions famous people have about each other. Isomorphic 28 June 2005 04:35 (UTC)

I completely disagree. The Mailer quote is used to give a more well-rounded sense of her reputation. He speaks for a lot of people.

Aroundthewayboy 19:01, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

I also disagree. The Mailer quotes, while sensational, are newsworthy enough to be included in a "criticism" section. His irritation at her practice of bringing out scathing reviews in advance of publication to damage the reception and ultimately sales of a book is worth including, as is Rushdie's quote. She's not an especially well-liked person in the literary world. Inoculatedcities 02:10, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: 'practicing Christian'

I'm a great fan of Michiko - but where does the author come up with the notion that she's a 'practicing Christian.' The sum and substance of her writing is overwhelmingly secular, urban & liberal; there is no trace of Christianity (or any other religion for that matter) in her writing - so I doubt that this 'factoid' is accurate. Juststoppinby 04:54, 10 August 2006 (UTC)===POV===

[edit] Sources needed

I have moved unsourced material from the article to the space below. All quotes should be backed up by sources before being moved back to the article to comply with Wikipedia:Verifiability. I also re-wrote the article to comply with Wikipedia:Neutral point of view and Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons. -Classicfilms 18:54, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

Her more famous excoriations include: John Updike's Seek My Face ("bogus in every respect"); Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons ("cheap, jerry-built affair that manages the unfortunate trick of being messy and predictable at the same time"); and Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis ("a long day's journey into tedium").

Salman Rushdie has called her "a weird woman who seems to feel the need to alternately praise and spank". In a June 2005 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, author Norman Mailer criticized Kakutani as a "one-woman kamikaze" (Kakutani is of Japanese descent) who deliberately "bring(s) out your review two weeks in advance of publication. She trashes it just to hurt sales and embarrass the author." Mailer also said that New York Times editors were "terrified" of Kakutani, and "can't fire her" because she's "a token," "an Asiatic, a feminist."

...which the New Haven Advocate called "a great moment in McSweeney's history, by Kakutani's college classmate Colin McEnroe." ---

A source can be found for the Rushdie quote and there is a source listed for the Mailer quote you excised below. What's the problem again? Inoculatedcities 02:10, 9 July 2007 (UTC)