As book review sections of newspapers diminish daily in size and significance, and as those same newspapers publish dirges to their own demise, online reviewing sites (of just about anything) proliferate. This paradox makes our moment in history a particularly appropriate time to examine the ethics, economics and politics of reviewing. In the great democratization of reviewing that we are witnessing, anybody and everybody can become a reviewer, or what some would call an “empowered consumer.” Buy a book and you can review it on Amazon.com. In fact, you might be able to do so without even reading the book. Who would check? You do not have to be an expert or a professional, or even honest. And this applies not only to books, of course, but to anything that can be evaluated, from Toronto restaurants to Paris hotels, from DVDs to video games.
What is at stake? In a word: everything. That’s why newly published authors have learned to manipulate the so-called democratic...
Linda Hutcheon teaches literature at the University of Toronto and is the author of twelve books on contemporary culture. Her most recent work involves the ethics, economics and politics of reviewing across all the arts: she recently gave the 2009 Alexander Lectures on the topic at University College at the University of Toronto.
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