2012-07-26

Kazohinia reviewed in leading Behin newspaper

I haven't attempted to seek out reviews of Kazohinia, but in the course of searching for news articles, I found this:

Stranger in a Stranger Land

Life among the Hins is perfectly ordered. Money is unknown. Sex is practiced openly as shame, like the other emotions, is unknown. Allan Massie reviews "Voyage to Kazohinia."

The Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2012
Print version: July 18, 2012, on page A13 in the U.S. edition
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373804577520762929230108.html

I assume that any cultural commentary in the WSJ is suitable for training puppies, but this is great publicity for the novel. This review conveys the plot very well, and some of the dystopian preoccupations of the time, but aside from the fact that the reviewer finds that the satire goes on too long and overstays its welcome, he also doesn't see the point. The two asinine comments left so far perhaps are to be expected. But there is plenty of room here for constructive comments. And by this I mean comments about Szathmári's work, not  schnorring for Esperanto.

This reminds me of how much more there is to say simply than to recognize that humans, partly rational, partly irrational, could not survive at either extreme. I've got my work cut out.

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