steepholm

I have been thanked, sincerely and heartwarmingly, more than once in one of these lengthy acknowledgment sections, and yet I still find them problematic. (Like you say, personally problematic, not critically or structurally. And my reason is pretty much entirely your second, less respectable reason. I get the breathless, Oscar-speech-ish feel for most of them. I know from the authors of my acquaintance who write them that that is not at all the intent; most of the authors I know who write lengthy acknowledgment sections truly and sincerely want to thank the people who have brought them something that brings them joy. And yet to me, as a reader, they smack of some kind of hubris. I'm not sure why, although I can come up with rationalizations for why, I just know that it is an instinctive reaction on my part.