This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

1st March 2008

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Visitors to this page may know that I was recently given one of the English Academy of Southern Africa's Thomas Pringle awards (in the reviews category). The prize was based on a portfolio of reviews published in The Weekender in 2007. Now, I'm usually opposed to the kind of shameless self-promotion to which many websites resort, but in this case I'm making a rather egotistical exception.

My editor at The Weekender, Rehana Rossouw, generously used her column space in the most recent edition to cover the prizegiving event. This is what she had to say ... 

"Indulge me as I blow The Weekender’s trumpet. Or, more accurately, claim a little credit for someone whose achievement is entirely his own.

This week, the English Academy of Southern Africa presented the Thomas Pringle Award for Reviews to one of our writers, Chris Thurman. The award pales in significance to the Oscars which were also dished out this week, but Thurman is as deserving of recognition as Daniel Day Lewis, and for the same reasons — he brings enormous commitment and craft to his work.

In their citation, the academy recognised that there were reviews — and then there were Thurman’s reviews, which were characterised by his knowledge base and his stylistic sure-footedness which “thrills readers”.

Thurman’s acceptance speech, which began with how humbled he was to receive the award as he has been a reviewer for only a year, shows exactly why he deserved it. His description of his approach to his work deserves to be shared with all who read him.

Thurman said the role of a reviewer is to capture “ephemeral” art in amber for future generations. Few people who read reviews would read the book, see the play or attend the exhibition described, and reviewers were thus charged with keeping them abreast of the creations, ideas and debates in society.

People buy newspapers to be entertained, he said, and reviewers were challenged to produce the best journalism, on par with the prose in the literature they reviewed. A challenge he faced was creating three-dimensional characters who stood out on a two-dimensional newspaper page.

Reviewers are also charged with providing analysis, Thurman said. They have to understand the intention of the artist and place it within the range of culture produced in a society. In a country like SA, analysis has to take into account the skewed allocation of resources to artists, which means that while the creative impulses of artists may be identical, the work produced may differ. Even flawed productions have value to society.

And finally, he said the role of a reviewer is to evaluate works of art — a task he finds hard as it requires that he approve or disapprove of an artist’s endeavour. A reviewer needs a strong backbone to be up to this task, he said.

Thurman said he wanted his reviews to add to the debate on cultural production in SA, and this debate would be healthy only if writers expressed themselves honestly and space was created for personality-free artistic debate.

The editors and readers of The Weekender are fortunate that he chose us as a vehicle for his art."

What Rehana doesn't mention, of course, is that in my acceptance speech I expressed my sincere thanks to her and her colleagues at The Weekender. They produce a fine publication, week in and week out; and their editorial approach allows a range of arts critics to express valuable insights on the pages of the "Weekend Review". It is a privilege to work with them.