"He spawned a new breed of writers who wanted to write books that connected to the average Indian reader and didn't care about literary merit and acclaim.
At first glance, the book would hardly seem to merit such broad acclaim.
It appears that the "Titanic" and "Terminator 2" director, whose films often put tough women at the center of the action, doesn't think that Gal Gadot's character was complicated or groundbreaking enough to merit so much acclaim -- $800 million at the worldwide box office aside.
The real shame was how VAR intruded on the acclaim Albion merited for attacking Liverpool in the first half, dominating central midfield and defending stoutly in the second as the hosts pressed in vain for a recovery.
He initially became known, of course, as the son of Gérard Depardieu, but he earned acclaim entirely on his own merits, whether as Pierre in Leos Carax's "Pola X" or as General de Montriveau in Jacques Rivette's "The Duchess of Langeais".
Though publishers of fiction recognize certain obligations to art, even when these are unprofitable (as they usually are), they are impelled for the most part to regard the novel as a commercial property and to be better pleased with large sales of indifferent work than with the mere unremunerative acclaim of the intelligentsia for books of rare merit.
Also of considerable merit is poet O.M. Mtshali, whose Sounds of a Cowhide Drum (1971) received acclaim.
The book, hailed for its uncompromising honesty, was greeted in England with almost unremitting acclaim, which included an entire BBC broadcast devoted to its merits and lavish praise from Cyril Connolly and Philip Toynbee.
As Lady Gaga knows all too well, a big blockbuster music video can kickstart your career quicker than any artistic merit – so when the absurdly ostentatious G.U.Y. film was released to very little acclaim (and even got her in a spot of trouble with local environmentalists), it was the first of many signs that the art obsessive's career might be in trouble.
As much as the comparison would doubtless send Stothard into apoplexy, there's something fervently hipsterish about the penchant of literary critics to turn snobbish at the first mention of popularity, as though widespread acclaim (or at least, acclaim from the wrong sort of people) is poison to merit.
