This article is based on this dutch article of Martijn Benders
### Diseased Positivistic Review Culture
I am still working on the legal basis for the case on October 22nd. Here’s a little preview regarding that ludicrous system that officials devised for writers, resulting in a 90% positive review culture that truly destroys literature:
*The policy of the Dutch Foundation for Literature has led to an ‘alternative review circuit,’ where authors review each other’s work to obtain more financial support. This often happens out of necessity, because mainstream newspaper reviewers (who are part of that small Christian network) ignore their work. Although I don’t blame these people for their choices, I choose not to participate in this practice. This situation results from administrative incompetence.*
*There is no literary precedent for ‘counting reviews’—a writer doesn’t improve by the number of reviews they accumulate. In literature, it is important that you are noticed by prominent critics. Reviews from amateur readers might be pleasant but have little influence on literary appreciation.*
*Also, the ‘positivity’ of reviews means unfortunately little, especially in an environment where mutual positive evaluations have become a necessity for a writer’s survival. Everywhere, there are networkers who write positively about each other’s work, but no literary value can be derived from that positivity. Why? Because these reviews are often more based on mutual interests than on an objective assessment of literary quality. In short, through poor policy, the Dutch Foundation for Literature has contributed to a diseased consensus market with at least 90% positive reviews, utterly meaningless, causing poetry to lose much of its popularity.*
The full arguments must be submitted to the court by October 10th, after which they will be available to the defendant and thus public. After the lawsuit, I will also share them with you.
**Music, music, give us music!**
According to Jurgen, the title was ‘too Brabantic,’ and I quote:
*Musically strong, also regarding technical quality, the addition of your own voice sounds good. The title/lyrics are not quite to my taste, fitting well into the Brabo-narco music scene that has flourished for decades, which doesn’t entirely appeal to this sober Twent.*
Alright, alright, Brabo-narco title maybe, but I find the alliteration in this case remarkable, which also raises questions about how you actually pronounce ‘Me Too’ or ‘Mittoo’ (tow?). A nice fry shop tour with a wig is in the offing, but it will also come across as too farcical to a sober Twent.
I personally think FRIETENT ME TOO is the most Brabantic word ever.
I do indeed sing along on this track as well.
I’m taking my time with the album. It is no longer directly linked to my poetry collection, the two are separate projects. The collection has a new cover and a new title:
This morning, I wrote a poem about Lachtropius, the forgotten painter of this beautiful work. He lived in the ‘Golden Age’ but sold no works. In Amsterdam, he couldn’t get a foothold, another excellent example of how Dutch culture isn’t very welcoming to genuine talent—only the coin variant can arouse excitement, whether in the form of reviews or not.
Martijn 09-25-2024