Mark, I fear you’ve been so consumed with taking my review of your book personally—and reacting in kind—that you’ve neglected to respond to its substance. Re the “snobbery.” Even lacking in the credentials that would, in your mind, authorize me to say anything about the culture of the US, I am familiar with its predilection for puns and that these are humorously intended (by NYRA’s editors, by the way). Maybe there’s some confusion on your part about what “snobbery” even is, though, since you count referring to one’s achievements in a publicly available CV as such.
Just because some terms, like “Critical Project,” appear in the title of a book, doesn’t mean that they are in standard usage, let alone that there was ever a consciously contrived plot to deprive the world of aesthetics that your use and capitalization of the phrase suggests.
I’m not trying to explain anything to you about the Midwest or claim that my knowledge is superior to yours. The review isn’t addressed to you personally, and nor, of course, do I know anything about the circumstances of your upbring…