The Mentor 42 - February 1983

Grimesish Grumberlings,
Better a Bad Review Than None At All - Perhaps

(Article)

Now and again I am asked to do a book review. The Literary Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald is very good at farming out reviewing work to specialists in various fields. For example, Dr. Tony Vinson did a piece of the notorious Jack Abbott’s In The Belly of The Beast. Jack Abbott, you will recall, was the convict who became a protégé of Norman Mailer, which famous writer used his influence to get him paroled and then persuaded his own agent, Scott Meredith, to handle Abbott’s masterpiece. Abbott did not stay long out of prison as he blotted his copybook again with a rather nasty murder. Mr. Vinson, reviewing Abbott’s book, was obliged to admit that Abbott was a criminal but, Dr. Vinson being Dr. Vinson, managed to convince himself (but not all of this readers) that the poor, dear boy never had a chance and that It Was All Society’s Fault.....

Publications