October 30, 2007
We wish.
Here's the thing, as we are fond of saying when we want to rant about something. We found this week's "Questions For..." very amusing in light of recent now-simmering accusations that Solomon uses certain less-than-ethical methods to give her column its trademark snap-crackle-pop. We keep reading and re-reading her interview with Pierre Bayard, a professor of French literature at the University of Paris, a fake-reader of Proust (self-described!), and the author of How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read. Anyone who gets their rocks off on discussing how many hard books they read as English majors and lurrrrved and felt ever so deeply and blahblahblah will hate this book. For the record, if there is such a solid thing on the Interweb, we love Crime and Punishment too but that doesn't mean we don't like to snuggle with a fashion magazine now and then. BUT ANYWAY. (Unresolved issues). Here's one exchange:
Solomon: But what about those of us who read to feel things — to experience pleasure, an end to loneliness?
Beyard: Of course I read in order to feel something. And to feel an end to my loneliness, of course, just as you.
Bam. What? She totally lets him get away with that zinger. Instead of following up with a question that also insinuates she isn't lonely at all, but is actually a deeply fulfilled human being with a rich private life, Solomon says:
Then why are you so willing to devalue the experience of close reading in favor of skimming? You seem to believe that knowing a little bit about 100 literary classics is preferable to knowing one book intimately.
Errr. Huh?! Deborah, why are you playing Ms. Nice Lady all of a sudden? But really the best exchange is the final lightening round:
Solomon: Have you read all of Proust, on whom you once wrote a scholarly book, “Off the Subject: Proust and Digression”? Bayard: Proust is very difficult to read. His sentences are long and have very strange constructions, so it is not very possible to read it from the first line to the last line. You are obliged to use another way of reading.
Solomon: Are you saying you skimmed Proust?
Bayard: Yes, of course I did! I prefer to say that I live with Proust. He’s a companion. Sometimes I go to Proust and I seek advice for my life. I open it and I skim some pages. That is to live with books. It’s important to live with books.
Solomon: But if you’re a habitual skimmer, why should we trust the conclusions you draw about literature?
Bayard: Because now, after hearing my arguments, you are convinced of my position.
Solomon: Not completely convinced.
Bayard: Then you have to read my book once more, from the first line to the last line, the French method of reading.
Excuse us? Bayard, you cheeky monkey! She actually allows him to make the idea of SKIMMING PROUST sound attractive. Well, okay, she makes him sound a little poseurish, but beyond that--what gives? It's like they were having a jokey back and forth, and "Questions For..." isn't usually jokey unless is S-master making a joke at her subject's expense, and then we chuckle and feel kinda bad for them and awestruck at her poison pen. Where did the Solomon mojo go? We want answers. We'll be watching and waiting for them.
Also, this Bayard guy is a real kick. We heart him now.
October 29, 2007
Thanks to Brookline Booksmith for hosting the Nick Hornby reading
Just to make sure, we decided to wait until the Curse of the Hornbino had been demolished by Your 2007 Boston Red Sox before posting the rest of Nick Hornby's Q&A at the Devotion School in Brookline, where the patron saint of record-store geeks and football obsessives appeared last week to read from his so-called young-adult novel Slam, about a Tony Hawk-worshipping teenager named Sam who flees his hometown after knocking up his girlfriend. In the video above, Hornby discusses the Farrelly Bros adaptation of Fever Pitch, his relationship with Tony Hawk, the cultural significance of skateboarding, and why Slam indulges in a bit of teenage time traveling. Enjoy.
Previously
BOSTONPHOENIX: Brit Wits: As Nick Hornby and Irvine Welsh face 50, two of Brit Lit’s standard-bearers stare down middle age in very different ways.
October 19, 2007
There's something vaguely diabolical about Jessica Seinfeld's book, Deceptively Delicious. The basic concept is that you hide good-for-you things like spinach and sweet potatoes in yummy things like brownies and mac & cheese. Except 1) People say her recipes are actually disgusting and 2) She may have stolen the ideas from another lady who thought of those gross combinations first. We smell another Frey-gate. Oprah is going to shit bricks now!
We're also extremely disturbed by this Raymond Carver debate that's been happening in literary circles over the past week. While it might seem tantalizing to read What We Talk About When We Talk About Love in its original form, we're pretty sure we wouldn't like it as much. Republishing it: not a good idea. This whole situation brings to mind a lot of questions about the editor-writer relationship and the idea of "making a literary legend." Who would Gordon Lish be without Carver's concepts, his words, his story ideas? Where would Carver be without Lish's ruthless red pen? More to the point, why is Tess Gallagher so hell-bent on showing the world a product that probably isn't nearly as good as it turned out to be in final form? Carver may not have been the brilliant minimalist he's pegged as in literary history, but clearly, he had issues with the style he is credited with inventing:
Also in the Lilly Library is a seven-page letter, dated July 8, 1980, which Carver wrote to Mr. Lish as he readied “What We Talk About” for the printing presses. In it Carver pleaded with Mr. Lish, “Please do the necessary things to stop production of the book.”
Tricky, tricky. Being edited is a difficult, often very painful process, but the truth is--for the most part--the work almost always benefits from it. Although, doesn't the author have a right to his own legacy? This whole situation is just so CARVER-y though--the drama, the darkness, the uncertainty. God, we need a drink! And a cigarette. Except we don't smoke. SIGH.
Final thought: In J-school, a professor we had, who spent years writing features for the Wall Street Journal and had two non-fiction titles (that actually sold well!) under his belt told us that he didn't know shit about writing a book until his editor "taught" him how. As in, they had a lot of conversations about the subject and the pitch and the this and the that, and over the course of their relationship, he learned how to write the book he wanted to write--from his editor. Who else is doing this? How far does it actually go?
October 12, 2007
The Washington Post has a story on the latest winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. Oh, those sweet-talking Brits:
Doris Lessing was out grocery shopping near her home in London yesterday when the Swedish Academy announced she had won the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature. She returned from the store to find a media circus, the wire services reported.
"Oh Christ!" she said, when told about the monumental honor. "I couldn't care less."
October 09, 2007
Masaharu Morimoto is our favorite (and always underrated - God those judges are fools) Iron Chef. He'll be making an appearance on Wednesday, Oct. 10 at the Boston University Barnes & Noble to promote his new cookbook, Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking. According to our press release, in addition to the booksigning, BU has asked Mirimoto to demonstrate his recipes for the Seminars in the Culinary Arts:
Because of public demand, the University will be presenting Morimoto twice on October 10, at 3 p.m. and 7p.m. The cost for attending either session is $70 and includes an autographed copy of his book, samples of his recipes and an opportunity to meet the “Iron Chef.” For more information and to register for a demo visit www.bu.edu/foodandwine, or call 617/353/9852.
Tastes like fun.
October 09, 2007
Masaharu Morimoto is our favorite (and always underrated - God those judges are fools) Iron Chef. He'll be making an appearance on Wednesday, Oct. 10 at the Boston University Barnes & Noble to promote his new cookbook, Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking. According to our press release, in addition to the booksigning, BU has asked Mirimoto to demonstrate his recipes for the Seminars in the Culinary Arts:
Because of public demand, the University will be presenting Morimoto twice on October 10, at 3 p.m. and 7p.m. The cost for attending either session is $70 and includes an autographed copy of his book, samples of his recipes and an opportunity to meet the “Iron Chef.” For more information and to register for a demo visit www.bu.edu/foodandwine, or call 617/353/9852.
Tastes like fun.
October 05, 2007
Yesterday, Pacifica Radio broadcast an uncensored version of Allen Ginsberg reading his seminal poem "HOWL." Oct 3 marked the 50th annivesary of a court ruling that determined "HOWL" was not obscene, but a work of social and literary merit. It's awesome. Stream the reading here, at Pacifica's website, follow along with the full text here, and watch him briefly chit-chatting about the wonders of technology below:
October 02, 2007
Today, researching a story about celebrity comebacks sent us scurrying back in time for an Internet refresher course on the history of spin and PR. Edward Berneys, the "father of public relations," was responsible for originating the idea that a company product or a celebrity's image could be revitalized if you tapped into the emotions of the public. He wrote a book, Propaganda, which was published in 1928, and you can read a fascinating excerpt of it here. Dig the Chomsky introduction.
Berney's most stunning PR coup was how he single-handedly made it acceptable - and desirable - for women to smoke. A psychologist told him (for a large sum of money, no favors in this business), that cigarettes represented penises, and if women associated smoking with independence, power, and freedom, it would be like they were lighting up their own dicks every time they bought a pack of Lucky Strikes. Below, YouTube explains how he spin-doctored "Torches of Freedom":
More on this later, but for now, we wonder how Bernays would have engineered a Britney Spears comeback after yesterday's custody and tanning salon mess. Alternative suggestions are welcome.
October 01, 2007
Penguin is teaming with Amazon.com for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. They're taking submissions through Nov. 5, and the winner receives a publishing contract and a $25,000 advance from Penguin! If only we had participated in last year's NANOWRIMO. We're a bit more preoccupied by short stories lately, although Stephen King's Sunday Book Review essay made us think twice:
"Last year, I read scores of stories that felt ... not quite dead on the page, I won’t go that far, but airless, somehow, and self-referring. These stories felt show-offy rather than entertaining, self-important rather than interesting, guarded and self-conscious rather than gloriously open, and worst of all, written for editors and teachers rather than for readers. The chief reason for all this, I think, is that bottom shelf. It’s tough for writers to write (and editors to edit) when faced with a shrinking audience."
Does that have anything to do with the rise of MFA programs? Because they make everyone sound the same, and too workshop-y?
We couldn't even find N+1 the last time we checked the local chain bookstore, but it seems the anti-McSweeney's lit mag now has a Version 2.0, called Paper Monument, and it's all about art.
Does anyone want to start a photo-copied zine with Word Up? We're open to title suggestions.
