One word of appreciation
 A writer would love his works to be appreciated. It is quite so even
with us in the newspaper business. We love to hear and see someone
appreciating whatever we write – whether it is utter gibberish or
something worthwhile.
Even a street sweeper would love to be appreciated, wouldn’t he? They
would love someone to appreciate a properly swept walkway. Appreciation
could be both positive and negative. Some prefer only positive
appreciation, not even negative yet constructive appreciation.
Some artistes have the luck to get recognized. He or she doesn’t
always have to be an award recipient. The likes of Karunasena Jayalath
and T B Illangaratne still reign some shelves in bookshops. That means
they still get the readers’ applaud. Their works are timeless, but that
appreciation is simply surprising, especially when we are not short of
children and romantic writers.
Some artistes’ works are always discussed. Suppose a novelist
releases his latest work. Almost everyone talks about his work, while
some novelists go unnoticed. When the known novelist gets the
appreciation, it won’t be just a word or two. Having reached that
particular stage, the artiste gets exposed to a world of many
appreciative words.
That naturally forms a windshield against possible and probable
negative criticism. Negative criticism, even when it is constructive,
doesn’t count. The writer’s work is heavily appreciated and it cannot be
flawed – things are taken for grant.
Besides, the artiste starts shrugging off a casual remark.
A philosopher from ancient times had commented that he needs
something more than just saying his work is ‘good’. Like I said before,
true, we all like our works to be appreciated in more than a word or
two. But our readers do not always have a rich storage of words.
There are people who can use many words and ideas to appreciate
someone else’s works. They can write or speak out in a rich verbosity.
We call them by a certain term: critics. The other quarter tell us
personally. Others have not got anything to say in particular. That
doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate the work. Not always, at least. Just
that they are not rich enough to express. What would they say, in such a
case? Your work is fine. That is all.
In profile, a veteran or senior writer has a good audience. He has
already been exposed to many words of appreciation. So chances are more
for him to shrug off that simple phrase, ‘nice’. The fact the senior
misses is, even that phrase counts at times. There may be times when
that phrase is not the sincerest form of appreciation. But when words
fail, it’s the phrase that comes out. I grew a sudden keen interest on
all this because of one incident.
“He has got enough praise, so these few words are not appealing to
him.” My friend was commenting about her friend. My friend is A, and her
friend is B – for convenience’s sake. B is a writer with some audience
in the country, and he has got a good number of views, reviews and
publicity for his works.
Then comes another person: C. B hands a copy of his book to C. C read
it and shot a short email appreciating how good the book is. C is not
rich in her words, but she wanted to thank B and express how she enjoyed
the work.
When B met A another occasion, she inquires about the email C has
sent. Apparently A had not replied C’s mail. Why, the question lingered
in B’s mind. “Did you see her mail? She has appreciated your book.”
“I saw her mail, but it’s not much of an appreciation. She has just
said she enjoyed my book. That’s all. There was nothing to reply.”
And the rest, I think I have already commented.
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