Non-deliverer, non-deliverer

"Criticism" by Julio Ruelas (1870���1907)

By ADRIAN TAHOURDIN

Here at the TLS, reviews are our staple. This is a statement of the obvious, perhaps. No editor likes sending out a book for review and not receiving the review. It���s frustrating ��� and feels like wasted effort. But it happens of course, for a variety of reasons: reviewer���s illness, or other unforeseen circumstances; the book not being worth reviewing; simple forgetfulness. There are other reasons: one reviewer once claimed he had his review impounded by customs officials at Lima airport (this was in the days before computers etc., and he had no copy of it).

A distinguished American historian (who shall remain nameless) has a particular track record of non-delivery. I calculated from our records that this reviewer, over a decade and a half, owes five different editors here in excess of 15,000 words. Now, you may say that it���s our fault as editors for continuing to invite this reviewer to write for us ��� a triumph of hope over expectation. Maybe we should have consulted each other before deciding that this reviewer seemed just right for the book(s) in question.  

Personally, I think a reviewer should always deliver, even if it���s several months late ��� or at least explain why they intend not to. After all, in accepting you���ve entered into an unofficial contract. My own first review for the TLS took me several months ��� I was that anxious ��� and, not unreasonably, the book was deemed too old to be reviewed by the time I delivered (my apologies to the author in question, Luciano De Crescenzo). My next review took almost as long. It got a little bit easier, but by small degrees.

After all, reviewing is hard, as most will agree. I shudder when I think back to the sheer torture of my early reviews: the anxiety over the looming deadline, the fear that I hadn���t properly understood the book. I would have a couple of drinks on the evening before the deadline to ease the tension and end up unable to think straight; next step was to set the alarm for early the next morning, but in fact I was unable to sleep at all ��� and I had a hangover to boot. I scrambled through it somehow. But it was no fun. But when the review eventually materializes there is always a sense of satisfaction. That is partly why reviewers do it.  And what we rely on.