The Elegant Variation: ULIN TO LATBR

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August 24, 2005

ULIN TO LATBR

L.A. Observed once again breaks the news - David Ulin has been named new editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review. (We find this sentence from the announcement memo - "The result is a sensibility that is singularly unafraid to appear parochial because it never is provincial." - singularly odd.)

We approve. We like David, we like his work. We once tried to help him jump start his car. We wish him the best. And yes, the Thumbnails will continue and no free rides will be given, though an acclimation period will surely be observed.

If David needs some ideas where to start, we direct him here ...

UPDATE: Dan Wickett has been kind enough to forward us PW's coverage, which you can find hidden after the jump.

David Ulin Named Editor of 'LATBR'

PW Daily has confirmed that The Los Angeles Times has appointed author and literary critic David L. Ulin as its new book editor, ending a nearly four-month long guessing game. An official announcement is being made this afternoon.

Reached for comment, associate features editor Tim Rutten said the Times had conducted a "very long and very exhaustive" search with about 25 serious candidates. Rutten said the Times thought Ulin "had the right mix of credentials" as a freelance book critic whose work has appeared in the book review he will now edit along with NYTBR and The Atlantic Monthly. He was also books editor at the weekly LA Reader.

"He has the kind of stature to take the book review to the next level," said Rutten.

What might have set Ulin apart from other candidates is his experience editing two anthologies of Los Angeles writers, one for City Lights in 2001 and the other for Library of America the following year. His nonfiction title The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith was published by Viking last year.

Ulin said he was looking forward to working with the people at the Book Review, many of whom he already knows. A New York native, Ulin has lived in L.A. for 14 years and calls himself a "lifer" (although he remains a die-hard Yankee fan.) "It's an amazing city, endlessly fascinating and an incredible place to think about and write about," he said. "It is really a vibrant literary culture."

Beginning in October, Ulin will oversee both the Sunday Book Review and daily reviews.
--Bridget Kinsella

Posted at 12:29 PM in LATBR Thumbnails | Permalink

Comments

Great news -- not that my short list counted for anything, but Ulin was definitely at the top of mine. I saw him a few months ago on a panel at PCC in which he, Susan Straight, Gary Phillips, and Aimee Bender discussed random issues of LA literature. He gave great panel (not, to be sure, as great as Tod Goldberg...but great nonetheless) -- sharp answers and insights revealing a diverse range of reading. I'm hopeful for what this means for both coverage of fiction (literary and otherwise) and non-fiction at LAT. But...sigh...we have to wait until October?

Posted by: kyle | August 24, 2005 at 01:40 PM

Does this means he's going to clean house? Get read of all the deputy editors and all the regular contributors?

Posted by: Adam | August 24, 2005 at 02:35 PM

I was rooting for Schwarz myself, but Ulin was number two of the candidates presented.

Posted by: Robert Fiore | August 24, 2005 at 03:49 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

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HARRY, REVISED - Get all the details here.

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The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."

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*Now in Paperback*

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The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

August 24, 2005

ULIN TO LATBR

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog. A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog "Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

August 24, 2005

ULIN TO LATBR

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism