I have been both overpraised and underpraised. I assume by the time I finish writing — and I plan to go on writing until I’m 90 or gaga — it will all equal itself out… You can’t involve yourself with the vicissitudes of fashion or critical response. I’m fairly confident that my work is going to be around for a while. I am pleased and reassured by the fact that a lot of younger playwrights seem to pay me some attention and gain some nourishment from what I do.

I have been both overpraised and underpraised. I assume by the time I finish writing — and I plan to go on writing until I’m 90 or gaga — it will all equal itself out… You can’t involve yourself with the vicissitudes of fashion or critical response. I’m fairly confident that my work is going […]

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on June 29, 2020 | Created on June 29, 2020

I’ve noticed that there is not necessarily a great relationship between what the majority of critics have to say and what is actually true. Some of them are so busy trying to mold the public taste according to the limits of their perceptions, and others are so busy reflecting what they consider to be the public taste — that view limited again by their perception. You find very few critics who approach their job with a combination of information and enthusiasm and humility that makes for a good critic. But there is nothing wrong with critics as long as people don’t pay any attention to them. I mean, nobody wants to put them out of a job and a good critic is not necessarily a dead critic. It’s just that people take what a critic says as a fact rather than an opinion, and you have to know whether the opinion of the critic is informed or uninformed, intelligent of stupid — but most people don’t take the trouble.

I’ve noticed that there is not necessarily a great relationship between what the majority of critics have to say and what is actually true. Some of them are so busy trying to mold the public taste according to the limits of their perceptions, and others are so busy reflecting what they consider to be the […]

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on June 29, 2020 | Created on June 29, 2020