NB by J. C., a collection of James Campbell's best columns from
the TLS**, is a guide to the literary pleasures and absurdities
of the past two decades.
**For over twenty years, James Campbell wrote the popular NB column on
the back page of The Times Literary Supplement, signing it "J. C." The
initials were not intended as a disguise, but to provide freedom to the
persona. "J. C." was irreverent, whimsical, occasionally severe. The
column had a low tolerance for the literary sins of pomposity,
hypocrisy, and cant. It took aim at contemporary absurdities resulting
from identity politics or from academic jargon. Readers of NB by J. C.
will find not only an off-beat guide to our cultural times, but entries
from The TLS Reviewer's Handbook, which offered regular advice on the
cultivation of a good writing style. "Above all, aspire to the Three
E's: elegance, eloquence, and entertainment."
The Introduction offers a history of the TLS from its beginnings
through its precarious stages of adaptation and survival.
"The secret of J. C.'s weekly column is its unique mix of anonymity with
intimacy: this 'stranger', whom we meet over our morning coffee, is the
most discreet and delightful of guides to what's happening―good or
mostly bad―in the literary world, with all its pretensions, follies, and
occasional triumphs. I especially relished J. C.'s prizes―for the worst
prose or the silliest blurb. Then again, leave it to J. C. to find the
rare edition, the forgotten book of poems that deserves another look.
True wit, coupled with wisdom: it's the rarest of writerly
feats."―Marjorie Perloff, author of ***The Vienna Paradox: A
Memoir
***"I receive immense pleasure from J. C.'s columns. Something more than
pleasure: warmth, laughter, gratitude (especially when he is nailing
academic unreadability)."--Vivian Gornick, author of Unfinished
Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader
"For many years, Campbell appeared each week in the Times Literary
Supplement, where his back-page essay--ironic, bookish and irresistibly
entertaining--was every subscriber's favorite feature."--Michael
Dirda, Washington Post, on James Campbell's NB column
