Word: craftsmanly
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Amis and the rest of his school part company, it will be because he is its only conscientious craftsman and its only notable wit. Even so, his humor travels no better than the average joke in Punch, and U.S. editions of Lucky Jim and a second novel. That Uncertain Feeling, have barely topped the 5,000 mark in sales. His fellow writers would probably fare even worse, for they write with a sloppy, cliche-ridden arrogance that has been absent from serious U.S. fiction since the heyday of James T. Farrell and the cult of social protest...
...Robinson planted his feet and mostly waited; when he did fight back he was as right-hand crazy as a preliminary boy. Held high, Sugar's left was only an ineffective shield. Piling up points, Fullmer showed his contempt for the fading skill of Robinson, once the greatest craftsman of his generation, by landing with awkward, sprawling right-hand leads. Robinson backed off. He waited...
...Crowd. Khachaturian, 53, was even bolder. In a blistering statement he denounced Western avant-gardism, but went on to enthusiastic praise for an unregenerate formalist, Hungary's late Bela Bartok. Continued Khachaturian: "The seeking and daring artist is worth more than the well-trained craftsman who blindly copies . . . the great past masters." What added to his statement's interest was a list of young Soviet composers Khachaturian considers promising. This gave the West virtually its first glimpse of an almost unknown younger generation of composers. Among them: ¶Boris Tchaikovsky, 31, whose Slavic Rhapsody for Orchestra has stirred...
...there is more awry than a certain sprawl and shifting of tone. There is a real lack of causation and of vital connection; the destructive social forces never bear down honestly or even credibly on the personal tale. But here it is the social critic who helps lead the craftsman astray-the Williams who is obsessed with violence, corruption and sex, who sees life through a cracked glass darkly, and who at the end-exactly as the cavalry were once summoned to the rescue -brings on hoodlums for the kill...
...though unimportant personal frictions, with a truthfulness that is often painful--the more painful because of the understanding which lies beneath it. There is a sedateness and moderation to the prose which occasionally holds it below the level of excitement appropriate to the situations, but Morrison is a nice craftsman, and this failing is rare...