Read on Twitter
A short thread, occasioned by working through the to-do list:
One of the problems with review culture in the humanities, journal articles especially, is that it’s considered weak for a reviewer to just say, “Yes, this is great, absolutely, you should publish it.”
One of the problems with review culture in the humanities, journal articles especially, is that it’s considered weak for a reviewer to just say, “Yes, this is great, absolutely, you should publish it.”
It’s perceived as either not taking the assignment seriously, or else as an infirmity, admitting that your own intellect has been outclassed.
Every piece of writing can be improved of course, nothing is ever perfect, and even feedback on what is already a very strong piece can be welcome and useful.
But it seems odd that we can’t acknowledge (to one another) there are points of diminishing returns, and moments where the “critique” really is about affirming the intellectual stamina of the reviewer rather than offering meaningful feedback to the writer.
