Dirda on Books

Michael Dirda (The Washington Post)

Prize-winning critic Michael Dirda takes your questions and comments concerning literature, books and the joys of reading.

Each week Dirda's name appears -- in unmistakably big letters -- on page 15 of The Post's Book World section. If he's not reviewing a hefty literary biography or an ambitious new novel, he's likely to be turning out one of his idiosyncratic essays or rediscovering some minor Victorian classic. Although he earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Cornell, Dirda has somehow managed to retain a myopic 12-year-old's passion for reading. He particularly enjoys comic novels, intellectual history, locked-room mysteries, innovative fiction of all sorts.

These days, Dirda says he still spends inordinate amounts of time mourning his lost youth, listening to music (Glenn Gould, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, The Tallis Scholars), and daydreaming ("my only real hobby"). He claims that the happiest hours of his week are spent sitting in front of a computer, working. His most recent books include "Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments" (Indiana hardcover, 2000; Norton paperback, 2003) and his self-portrait of the reader as a young man, "An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland" (Norton, 2003). In the fall of 2004 Norton will bring out a new collection of his essays and reviews. He is currently working on several other book projects, all shrouded in the most complete secrecy.

Dirda joined The Post in 1978, having grown up in the working-class steel town of Lorain, Ohio, and graduated with highest honors in English from Oberlin College. His favorite writers are Stendhal, Chekhov, Jane Austen, Montaigne, Evelyn Waugh, T.S. Eliot, Nabokov, John Dickson Carr, Joseph Mitchell, P.G. Wodehouse and Jack Vance. He thinks the greatest novel of all time is either Murasaki Shikubu's "The Tale of Genji" or Proust's "A la recherche du temps perdu." In a just world he would own Watteau's painting "The Embarkation for Cythera." He is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, The Ghost Story Society and The Wodehouse Society. He enjoys teaching and was once a visiting professor in the Honors College at the University of Central Florida, which he misses to this day.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Dallas, Tex.: Happy New Year! Thought I'd share a heart-warming Christmas story with you. My wife knew that I wanted your new book for Christmas. So, she gave the title to my mother-in-law for her to purchase as a gift. Said mother-in-law went shopping at a nearby book store and asked for Bound to Please; however, she didn't have your name. So, the sales clerk brings her some sort of erotica book with the same title... let your imagination wander (I can't help but think that the clerk was having a little fun). Well, my mother-in-law looked at the book and concluded that her sweet son-in-law could not possibly want this (I may not be as innocent as she thinks). Eventually, she found the right book. At least she had a good story to tell at our Christmas dinner. I couldn't help thinking -- surely Dirda thought of this double-entendre at some point when coming up with the title! I'm thoroughly enjoying Bound to Please. I've already added S. J. Perelman and Dawn Powell to my list of authors to read in 2005.

Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books! It's gray and gloomy here in DC, wet, dank and unpleasant, and I'm wearing five layers of clothes to fight off the shivers from a serious bout of flu. At least I feel marginally better than yesterday.
My trip to New York and the Baker Street Irregulars festivities was great fun--I met our regular posters from Ashcroft Barbara and Chris Roden, and hobnobbed with my BSI chums and some friends I'd invited to the dinner: Peter Straub, Neil Gaiman, Alice Turner and Michele Slung. A good time was had by all, but I ate and drank for three solid days and my jeans now feel a tad snug.
Ah, my title! Of course, I knew of the various possible interpretations--and my sense of playfulness appears to have won out over Norton. They burdened me with a well-intentioned but pretentious subtitle, but never batted an eye about the title. Interestingly, most people don't seem to notice the naughty version, only the two more obvious ones. I'm glad you and your mother in law got a good story out of this.

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Paris, France: Cher Michael, Bonne Année!
Je me suis demandé si le choix de vos lecteurs au sujet des meilleurs livres lus en 2004 concernaient que la littérature anglo-américaine(december 22). C'est curieux, mais dans les listes j'ai remarqué très, très peu d'auteurs étrangers. C'est si décévant le panorama des auteurs étrangers contemporains traduits à l'anglais? Au moins, votre lecteur d'Australie a ouvert les volets vers d'autres horizons... en citant "Simone de Beauvoir, Lolita,Madame Bovary and The princess of Cleves" -classics de classics-et tout ceci, il ne faut pas l'oublier, grâce à votre merveilleuse et large connaissance de la littérature étrangère et surtout à votre talent de savoir la transmettre par la voie du Post. Grâce à vous j'ai découvert et lu The tale of Genji (en français).Et cher Michael, pourquoi ne pas stimuler vos lecteurs en les invitant un jour prochain à participer à un spécial littérature étrangère? Merci pour vos precieux conseils de lecture et Très Bonne Année à tous vos lecteurs du Post.

Michael Dirda: I will answer this question in English, for the benefit of the general readership. Americans do read more widely in world literature than they once did, but certainly we cannot compare with Europe, where books from America, England and the rest of the globe are valued as much as the national literatures. Still, I do believe that we have entered a period of a library without walls, and people are trying all kinds of authors, though usually the established classics. You are right that I try to point people toward wonderful books from other cultures in my columns and in Bound to Please. But adventurous readers have never been quite as plentiful as one would like.

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Elkinsburg, Md.: Hi Mr Dirda,

This is not meant to be sarcastic or smartass: tell me why I should read Henry James. He's a huge hole in my reading -- I've never read any of the novels and haven't read any of the novellas since college. I picked up a paperback of -Portrait- at a yardsale last month. Worth reading? (Spend most of my time with postmoderns, by the way.) Thanks

Michael Dirda: James, especially late James, is as hard to read as some post-moderns, though not usually quite so funny. Portrait is a middle period book and perhaps the right long novel to start with. But you might instead try some of the shorter works, what James himself called "the beautiful and blessed nouvelle": I'm thinking in particular of The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers, or those great short stories "The Beast in the Jungle" and "The Jolly Corner." Three of them--not Papers--are in a sense ghost stories, and Beast is one of the most haunting object-lessons about a missed life you will ever encounter.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Michael,

I have been reading "The Gulag Archipelago" recently and have noticed an uncanny similarity between Chapter 1 of Solzhenitsyn's classic work (Arrest) and the overriding theme of "1984" by Orwell of the all-controlling and all-knowing state. When was 1984 penned? Could Orwell probably have taken a page from the purges seen in the Soviet Union in the early-mid 1900s? Thanks for the insight.

Michael Dirda: Orwell brought out 1984 in, I think, 1950--just before he died. The title, of course, refers to 1948. Orwell was well aware of the horrors of totalitarian states, but I don't think he knew very much about the Gulag itself.

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Downtown Washington, D.C.: Dear Mr. Dirda: As part of my continuing effort to convert you to the joys of Web logs / blogs, here is a link to a fascinating conversation between China Mieville and several of the usual sf/fantasy blog suspects about his three "Bas-Lag" books. It's long and erudite and weird and wonderfully cranky; much like Mr. Mieville's novels. Thought you and fellow chatters might be interested.

Michael Dirda: Thank you. But if you want me to check this out, you need to send it to my email address: dirdam@washpost.com. China is, I know, a very well read and erudite mind.

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Charlottesville, Va.: My favorite author is Italo Calvino (especially Invisible Cities, Marcovaldo, and the Baron in the Trees). Are there any new authors who are similar/influenced by him who I might like? Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. You might try Calvino's friends in the OULIPO--the workshop of poetential literature--who combine the playful and the poetic (though I see you shy away from the more OUlipian works like CAstle of Crossed Destinies and If on a winter's night a traveler, the latter being my favorite). Look around the bookshop or library for Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, Harry Mathews. You might also try Angela Carter, who plays with myths and magic realism: The Bloody Chamber, Nights at the Circus. Of course Borges, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, and many sf and fantasy writers partake of some of Calvino's flavor.

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An Extravagant Life: Just finished Laurence Bergreen's biography of Louis Armstrong and loved it. Like a lot of my best finds, I just happened to come across this at the library, picked it up and WHAMMO! it was a homerun. Anyone interested in the history of jazz (and it is a fascinating tale), the history of New Orleans, or one of the greatest rags-to-riches stories in our nation's history, should definitely read this biography.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks for the lead. If I'm not mistaken, Louis Armstrong plays an important part in Roddy Doyle's latest novel, the title of which escapes me.

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SciFiGirl: Michael -- it's been a while since I've read anything that has really grabbed me and made me sit up and go "Wow!" But my mom got me a book for christmas that has done just that: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I want to both be reading it all the time so I can find out what will happen next, and not read it so I can extend the experience. It's a set of interrelated stories that are nested, so you see how the different stories relate to one another. They range through history from mid 17th century Pacific Islands to a post apocalyptic Hawaii with stops in early 20th century Belgium and a near future Korean super state. It's a really fascinating read, and beautifully written. Each narrative has its own feel to it. Really a wonderful read.

Michael Dirda: I keep hearing about this book, and wish I'd reviewed it. As it is, it sounds a good candidate for the Calvino lover of a posting or two back.

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Washington, D.C.: Today's review of The Autobiography of God reminds me somewhat of one of my favorite books of the past 30 years: Jeremy Leven's Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S. Thoughtful, imaginative, funny and human, I was always slightly saddened that more people didn't read, or at least don't remember, the book. Have you read it?

washingtonpost.com: Divine, to a Point (Post, Jan. 12)

Michael Dirda: Alas, no. But interestingly I am about to start writing a preface to a new edition of Robertson Davies The Manticore, which is built around a Jungian analysis. It's the middle volume of the famous Deptford trilogy.

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Dallas, Tex.: My 7-year old son has listened to a lot of recorded books, but I'm looking for a few recordings of my own. I'm especially interested in finding unabridged recordings of Shakespeare, the Bible, poetry, and other classics (ones that use more "archaic" language that I'm not willing to sit down and read). I saw your column in Readings about recorded books and was wondering if you have any favorite audio book performances from the past few years? Also, do you have any favorite narrators (such as John Gielgud) that seem to enrich the experience of the work they are reading? Favorite recorded books might make a good subject for a future discussion including both children's and adult selections. Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I've had very good luck with audio books, and like them but tend to listen only when I"m on a long car trip. Jeremy Irons reading Lolita is a knockout, so is the Naxos editions of Proust and Giboon (slightly abridged), one is read by Neville Jason, the other by Philip Madouc; I'm told that Patrick O'Brian is brilliantly read on tape. Some shops will allow you to sample an audio book before you buy. Or you might talk to the clerks--they may be able to guide you. In general, the best readers tend not to be the really famous HOllywood actors.

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Rockville, Md.: I love reading, but most of the fiction I see out there is soooo predictable. I wonder if the writers are doing it in their sleep, since they've probably written the same book a few times before, with just different character names. The only novel that I have read in the past few years for which I could not predict the ending by the middle of the book was probably The Secret Life of Bees. Granted, it was a bit weird in parts, but not predictable. Can you suggest any other books that might be interesting (i.e., not predictable)?

Michael Dirda: THis is hard question. One man's predictable is another man's surprise. Generally when tired of contemporary fiction I suggest going back to a favorite classic or comfort book. Again, librarians and serious bookshop personnel can guide you to good titles.

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Arlington, Va.: You've had this one countless times, I know. What are the four or five best works of P.G. Wodehouse for someone who has never read anything by him? Thanks

Michael Dirda: Hmmmm. I think I should have this answer on one of those keys where you can just push command L and the sentence appears: Leave it to Psmith, RIght Ho. Jeeves. The Code of the Woosters, and a good collection of the stories, of which there are several.

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Alexandria, Va.: Hi, Michael,

Have you read Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare? I've just started and am at once annoyed and intriqued by Greenblatt's informal prose. Where, oh where are any endnotes?

Michael Dirda: I've not read it--instead I reviewed a new biography of Christopher Marlowe. I gather that the book has received mixed reviews.

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College Park, Md.: Michael, Do you find that you read a certain type of book based on the season of year? For instance, I seem to be very drawn to Victorian literature during the colder months. I find the difficult words and more complex phrases to be warming and comforting in some way where as in the winter, it seems to be too much. Like a wool blanket that you want to throw off in June. Any thoughts?

Following this idea, I'm reading Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge right now, and I love it. Any thoughts on this book? I read Tess a while back, but don't remember being as entranced by that book as I am this one. Perhaps because it was ten years ago and I was in college...

Thanks for your thoughts.

Michael Dirda: Many Hardy fans regard The Mayor as his most perfect book--certainly it has a grabber opening in which a drunken man sells his wife at country fair.
I think most people think of winter as the time to hunker down with longer books. I once wrote a column for The Writer magazine called Season's Readings in which I chose what I regarded the perfect book for each month of the year. I can't remember most of the titles, though I know that summer included The Stranger and Farewell, My Lovely.

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Nashville, Tenn.: I believe this week the thread is 2004 favorites. Here is my go at favorites read/listened to this year in no particular order:

1. The Death of Adam- Marilynne Robinson. Your recommendation of Housekeeping led me to this. Housekeeping in 2005.

2. I recall you mentioned in some context favorite books of aphorisims. My two favorite new finds in 2004 were: A Johson Sampler ed. Hendry Culwen and The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (really much more than aphorisims, but very aphoristic at times).

3. To cope with the unending news of carnage from Iraq I went back to the Greeks and read Thucydides' History (the Strassler edition with the great maps) Herodotus and Xenophon. The part of Anabasis where the Greeks run down to the beach: "The Sea! The Sea!" was one of the most thrilling things I've read. All three together left me comforted (cold as that comfort was) to be reminded that being governed by the hubris of fools is not a new condition to mandkind. Also read Chris Hedges War is a Force that Gives us Meaning. That was interesting book by someone who has read the above and others.

4. The Memoirs of George Sherston- Siegfried Sassoon. The last words of the book are great: "it is only from the inmost silences of the heart that we know the world for what it is, and ourselves for what the world has made us." Very beautiful to me after the journey from bucolic boyhood through the hell of the trenches (visable even through Sassoon's upper class phlegm).

5.Black Lamb and Grey Falcon- Rebecca West. Like an almost too long vacation with a sometimes exasperating but ultimately delightful traveling companion.

6. Small Gods- Terry Patchett. A previously all powerful god finds himself trapped as a tortiose in the care of an idiot. Very funny. Also funny was Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote. Very smooth. Although I still like the old "Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance" to "Knight of the Sorrowful Face". Still, I'll say no word against Ms. Grossman after her great translations of Alvaro Mutis's Marqoll novellas.

7. Listened to the His Dark Materials Trilogy in the version with Philip Pullman as reader with actors reading each charactor. A delight.

8. Went on a spy kick during the summer. The best: The Heart of the Matter and the Confidential Agent-Graham Greene (former not one of hs spy novels); Dark Voyage Alan Furst; The Colour of Blood- Brian Moore (according the the tape his first name is pronounced with a long e. I would have never guessed that); The Secret Agent- Joseph Conrad. All great for a train ride (which to me is the ideal place to read spy stories).

9. As a bit cheat in that I've not finished these two: The first two thirds of In Search of Lost Time. Really no comment necessary on that other than much funnier than I suspected. The Fugitive and Time Regained this month. Also, listening to Middlemarch. Many great scenes which I mark in my hard copy at night.

10. Finally, thanks for your Readings and An Open Book. Many great recomendations in Readings. An Open Book has a bitter-sweet nostalgia to it, which I suppose is the flavor of all nostalgia properly remembered and done. I already have your new book and I am looking forward to finding some of my future best of 2005 in it. I'm afraid I've let my enthusiasm outrun anyone's likely interest so I'll end with another thanks for your work.

Michael Dirda: What an impressive list! Perhaps you should be running this program. Wonderful titles. I've never read the West and always meant to--may still one of these days. It's interesting that you mention Proust as funny--the very last line of my Proust essay--and it comes completely and deliberately out of the blue--is something like "That is a great comic novel goes without saying."

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Lansdale, Pa.: Hi Michael,
Thanks for the chats; I always find them informative and amusing. I'm posting early as I might not be available at 2.
I'm planning to read a series of American novels of the 1930's. Here's the list I set out for myself:

Hammett: The Maltese Falcon
Smith: The Night Life of the Gods
Cain: The Postman Always Rings Twice
Fitzgerald: Tender Is the Night
O'Hara: Appointment in Samarra
Farrell: Studs Lonigan
Finney: The Circus of Dr. Lao
Faulkner: Absalom, Absalom!
Di Donato: Christ in Concrete
Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath
West: The Day of the Locust
Chandler: The Big Sleep

Are there any novels you would consider essential that I've overlooked?

Michael Dirda: That's a great list. I presume you chose one title per author. You might include a Willa Cather--though I'm shakey on the dates. I'm very fond of A Lost Lady.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Michael,

What's your opinion on David Mitchell, lately of the Booker Prize short list twice?

I read Cloud Atlas before the holidays and enjoyed it despite its inherent structure. Now I'm fifty pages into his earlier book, Number9Dream, and am having serious reservations.

Michael Dirda: Haven't read either of these, but see previous postings for an endorsement of CA.

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Fair Oaks, Va.: The note from Paris had me thinking about the books cited in this forum. It seems to me that a lot of British books show up here, and a fair number of Spanish language works (perhaps translated into English).

I love French literature and can read it in French without too much trouble. However, it is not always easy (for me) to find recently published French works here.

That being said, two of my favorite re-reads of 2004 were "La Chanson de Roland" and "La Roman de la Rose". Not exactly hot-off-the-press choices, but then I like few books or films that date after about 1930, and my favorite music is Gregorian chant.

Michael Dirda: You read these in medieval French? I read them years ago--in my medievalist days in grad school--laboriously making my way through the unfamiliar language. Certainly Roland is short enough to keep one interested--one waits for Roland to blow his horn, like that guy in Fellowship of the Ring. Rose, though, is a seriously allegorical work and demands a certain will to enter into the spirit of the thing.
If you enjoy medieval French texts I would recommend Chretien de Troyes romances, especially Yvain and Le Chevalier de la charrette. IN the latter Lancelot goes to rescue Guinevere from an enchanter, but in order to start his quest must step into a cart--which is below him as a knight. He pauses a moment, then out of love rides in this vehicle of shame. Eventually he does rescue G after many adventures, but she refuses him her gratitude. He asks, Why, after all I've been through for you? She gives a magnificent answer: Because you hesitated for a moment before getting into the cart.
Also Thomas's Tristan is wonderful.

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Bonn, Germany: Re "Lolita" read by Jeremy Irons: I was going to buy this as a Christmas gift for my spouse, until I found out that Random House only sells it as audio cassettes -- no CDs. What are they thinking?!; Maybe they want to cut down on illegal copying, since it's more of a hassle to copy tapes, but as far as I'm concerned, if I can't transfer it to the i-pod, it won't get bought. A pity, really.

Michael Dirda: Yes. I listened to it on cassette. It did come out a half dozen years ago. He also records Brideshead, but I"ve only seen it on cassette and was hoping it might have made CD.

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La Belle Province: Dear Mr. Dirda,
Your response to the Parisian poster gives me the opportunity to plug one of my favorite review websites: www.complete-review.com, especially because it seems to keep up with recent works of European and Asian authors in translation, such as Amelie Nothomb, Miyabe Miyuki, Lars Gustafsson, as well as writers in English who may be a bit obscure to Americans, such as Iain Sinclair.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I have an essay on Iain Sinclair--he said without any pretense to modesty--in Bound to Please.

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Lenexa, Kan.: Mr. Dirda: All the best in 2005!; Both my son and I just completed our Christmas gift copies of Geoffrey Wawro's new "The Franco-Prussian War." We recalled the time "Book World" had France winning the war, and the fun letters that ensued.

Once I pointed out to you an author was listed in BW with the wrong first name, and you had a cute response: "In truth, if accuracy is very important to you, stay out of journalism." Recently following a LRB gaffe, the editor printed several smart-a__ letters and then responded with: "What fools we are." Any additional thoughts? Thanks much.

Michael Dirda: What, you mean France didn't win the Franco Prussian war! I once wrote an entire Readings column devoted to errors I had made in print.
Some errors, it must be said, are made by inattentive editors, trying to improve a sentence. Others result from failing to bear in mind the old Victorian adage--not Jowett's by the way-"always verify your references."

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Lansdale, Pa.: For Rockville who desires unpredictable books, I recommend William Lindsay Gresham's 'Nightmare Alley'. From the first chapter I knew how it would end, but I had no idea what would happen from chapter to chapter to lead to that ending.

Michael Dirda: Yes. An old classic, made into a classic movie (which I haven't seen). Improbably as it seems, the author's wife, Joy, eventually moved to England and married C.S. Lewis.

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Glover Park, Washington, D.C.: In regards to the Will in the World poster and answer--
Michael, did your recent Marlowe biography tap him as the "real" Shakespeare? Greenblatt's book is a pro-Shakespeare Shakespeare, which seems a bit old-fashioned, to me.

Michael Dirda: No. Marlowe is Marlowe. I also believe that Shakespeare is Shakespeare. I believe it is a classist prejudice that refuses to believe a poor kid from Stratford could also be a genius of language.

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Icebergville, Minn.: I had a terrible bout of the flu over New Year's. I turned to "American Gods" to cheer me up.

It worked.

Thanks to both you and Sci-Fi Girl for the recommendation.

Michael Dirda: Neil, are you listening? You know Gaiman lives on the border of Wisconsin-Minnesota?

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David Mitchell: Let me echo Silver Spring's reservations about Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell. I got hooked on Mitchell's Ghostwritten. I liked Cloud Atlas in part and couln't slog through Number 9 Dream. Silver Spring, pick up Ghostwritten.

Michael Dirda: thanks

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Annapolis, Md.: Michael, as a follow-up to the last discussion in which we named our best reads of the past year, I suggest that we name those books we most look forward to reading this year (perhaps books we received as gifts).
These are the fiction books I received that I look forward to reading:
Sandor Marai: "Casanova in Bolzano" (I hope it's as good as "Embers")
Colm Toibin: "The Master" (reviewed and recommended by you)
Ward Just: "An Unfinished Season" (reviewed and recommended by Jonathan Yardley)
The non-fiction book I most look forward to reading is "Bound to Please."

Michael Dirda: THis is a good idea. Okay. Next week, let's talk about books we've slotted for "Must read in 2005."

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East Falls Church, Va.: Is there such a category as Intellectual Fluff? I was bedridden for 5 weeks (broken knee), and able to read incessantly. One author (of whom I had never heard) is Maeve Binchey, as introduced to me in an anthology titled "Irish Girls About Town". Her strength, in my opinion, is with her short stories -- or her novels that read more like a connected series of short stories.

I found out that Oprah did choose one of her books, but, if you are looking for moderately good character development and interesting themes, but don't expect to be burdened with too deep a thought, she is a good author to choose.

Michael Dirda: She's a good choice for a comfort author--he's a bit more demanding, but Robertson Davies is a good example of someone who is both intellectual and fun to read.

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Arlington, Va.: Chapter in the continuing quest for books to engage boys' attention:

Two authors to recommend: Robert Westall (The Machine Gunners and Ghost Abbey were approved of by my 10-yr old)

Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell: The Edge World chronicles. From my examination, this is a series that does NOT become formulaic, and allows main characters to die as a natural progression of life.

Michael Dirda: Westall is very good. He's written a couple of dozen very good ghost stories, some quite horrific. In The Machine Gunners, set during WWII, some boys discover an intact machine gun in a crashed German plane.

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Arlington, Va.: From your perspective, what is the state of the market for mystery novels? Is the genre sustaining only established writers with strong fan bases, or are new writer still able to emerge in the market and make a good career of it? As an aspiring writer, I've heard from agents that it's been hard to sell mysteries lately.

Michael Dirda: There seem to be lots of mysteries being published, but as usual the best seller lists seem to highlight the same names. So I'm not really sure.

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Fair Oaks, Va.: About those medieval French books I read -- the "Roland" was published by Bordas, with the medieval French on the left page and modern French on the right. The "Roman de la Rose" was in modern French. As an undergraduate French major, I read most of the biggest hits of the French Middle Ages,including those by Chretien de Troyes. I had just enough Latin to help decipher the early vernacular stuff.

I love all those allegories, those pining lovers, those demanding ladies, those whiny old kings.

Michael Dirda: You might enjoy C.S. Lewis's classic, albeit slightly off-kilter, study The Allegory of Love, with a long chapter on the Chanson.

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Nani, Tex.: Thank you to the poster who suggested books by Perri Klass for my granddaughter who plans on a career in the medical field; and to you for suggesting Arrowsmith. I purchased both as Christmas presents. (She actually started reading before opening the rest of her gifts!). Now my question: Why did Sinclair Lewis refuse the Pulitzer for Arrowsmith?

Michael Dirda: Got me.

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Minnetonka, Minn.: Dear Michael,
Did you hear any good book gossip in New York? What books can we expect to see in 2005? Any book that you can't wait to read?

Michael Dirda: Alas, I was too logy with rich food and good wine to do more than smile and try to make intelligible conversation.

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Reston, Va.: Hi Michael,

Not to get into a discussion of wizards and hobbits, but I noticed you referenced Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in an earlier post. Briefly, what's your opinion of the book?

Thank you--

Michael Dirda: A masterpiece. Not that it's the only fantasy classic I love--I'm also a great admirer of its chief, and very different, rival: Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy.

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Takoma Park, Md.: Rockville hasn't read enough Brave Women's Fiction -- Secret Life of Bees was utterly predictable to those of us who have.

Yes, I am a feminist. No, I could not STAND Secret Life of Bees. Or the Red Tent either.

For non-predictable fiction try Russell Hoban (adult books) and Jonathan Coe.

For predictable try Sandor Marai. Talk about overblown!

Michael Dirda: Well, I liked Embers a lot--but I also bow to no one in my admiration for Hoban. There's something about his style--even when the books fly out of control, as they sometimes do--that just enchants me. See my recent review of Her Name was Lola--or the piece on Riddley Walker in, you guessed it, Bound to Please.

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Sto Lat, Disc World: Long time lurker, first-time poster here. I recently saw where the Smithsonian Resident Associates program is hosting an event in March with graphic novelists. Though a fan of some fantasy writers (which should be obvious from my location) and having enjoyed one ot two graphic novels in my time I was wondering if you had any opionion on this genre? I've never really become an avid reader of them but wonder if I should.

Are there any graphic novelists that you find exceptional? What do you think is the significant driving force behind a good graphic novel? Art or story? I assume that most novels are written by one person and illustrated by another? Are graphic novels something one finds at a library or does one have to buy to experience them?

Michael Dirda: This is a genre that is as various as fiction itself. You might check out adventure tales like Ronin, the pastichey (and very slyly literary) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Harvey Pekar's tales of Cleveland in American Splendor, Art Spiegelmann's Maus, and of course Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

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Fair Oaks, Va.: Did you see this in John Kelly's "Answer Man" column in Monday's Post?

Q: When a [Metro] train pulls into a station, those red lights flash above the doors briefly. Why? And why do they flash on only some of the cars?

A: The lights flash as a symbolic nod to F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby". Just as Gatsby gazed at the green light on Daisy's pier and comtemplated his desires, so Metro provides the lights as a way for busy commuters to pause and think about their dreams.

Kelly then gives the real purpose of the lights (they indicate that the doors are shut), but I got a kick out of his first explanation.

Michael Dirda: VEry cool.

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Homeroom: Whoah Ho, welcome back! This space is a black hole in the weeks when this chat is silent. I read a couple of these in '03 but if we're still doing last year's books, I want to plug Housekeeping; Sarah Canary by Karen Fowler; Bridesmaid by Rendell, which I indecorously thought was, in part, a tragic love story; and Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan. Historical fiction that really drew me in, that last one, it'd be swell to hear at least one person in agreement on this chat someday, but I should live so long, I suppose. As to living, Guy Davenport died recently and the Post obit quoted a blurb from you... could you share your thoughts and capsulize his writing style some? Thanks.

washingtonpost.com: Guy Davenport Dies; Writer Had Distinct Voice (Post, Jan. 9)

Michael Dirda: These are all good authors, though I can't speak for the Alama book. The Bridesmaid is a wonderful tale of a folie a deux. As for Guy DAvenport: What can I say? He was my favorite living essayist, and I would read anything he wrote, though I belong to the camp that prefers his nonfiction. Look for The Geography of the Imagination.

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Fair Oaks, Va.: Another good book by C.S Lewis is "The Discarded Image", which is a guide to understanding and appreciating medieval and Renaissance literature.

Michael Dirda: My copy--he said boastfully--once belonged to Charles Singleton, the great Dante scholar. But it is a terrific little compendium to the medieval world view, a transcription and amplification of lectures that Lewis used to deliver to ltierature students.

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Takoma Park, Md.: Most satisfying fiction of 2004:

Gilead, Marilyn Robinson
The Rotters Club, Jonathan Coe
A couple of Terry Pratchetts

Michael Dirda: Thanks. I'm looking forward to reading Jonathan Coe's biography of B.S. Johnson--it comes out in American later this spring. Johnson wrote one of my favorite gallows-humored novels: Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry, about a clerk who goes on a murderous rampage to even his accounts with the world.

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Bonn, Germany: Last year, a number of Book World reviews of German literature in translation sent me to the library: there were your articles on Gert Hofmann's "Lichtenberg and the Little Flower Girl" and the book by Ernst Juenger, and then there was Edward Hirsch's article of an anthology of women poets, "After Every War" from which he quoted a poem by Rose Auslaender, "My nightingale." He said that it was now on his "shortlist of most radiant mid-20th century poems" -- and now it is on mine, too. Readers (and Hirsch himself) might be interested to know that there is an audio recording of Auslaender reading this poem (in German) available on the internet at www.lyrikline.de
I'll miss Hirsch's Poet's Choice articles -- his choices really struck a chord with this reader, and I'm sad to see him go.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I will relay your kind words to Ed.

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Vienna, Va.: I agree with the reader who is drawn to Victorian literature during the winter months. I just raced through my favorite Trollope novel, "Dr. Thorne," and I am wondering which is your favorite Trollope?

Michael Dirda: The rather unTrollopian The Way We Live Now.

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Graphic Novels: Late as this is, I wanted to plug Persepolis by Marjane Satarpi -- her graphic memoir of growing up in Tehran during the revoloution. Astounding.

Michael Dirda: Thanks.

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Niagra Falls, N.Y.: BOUND TO PLEASE was one of my favorite books of 2004. But why is there no index?

Michael Dirda: Money saving measure. The top margin is very narrow too for the same reason. It's a long book.

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Swarthmore, Penn. (temporarily relocated to Oxford, UK): Hi Mr. Dirda --
Didn't get a chance to post my favorite books read in 2004 last time -- I work in the kids' department of a bookstore, and so have been indulging in children' lit. Here are two favourites ...

1. The Canning Season, by Polly Horvath -- wonderful dark humor and wit; quirky story set in the woods of Maine.

2. The Last Resort, by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
"I was buzzing along the road to Whoknowswhereville, when the car suddenly turned down a lane as long as loneliness, past a cliff beyond forgetting, through a spider-lightning night" -- so opens the picture book that is not for children, a story about lost imagination, refound; cameo appearances made by everyone from the Count of Monte Cristo to Emily Dickinson to the little mermaid to the baron in the trees. Lovely illustrations.

Michael Dirda: thanks.

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Washington, D.C.: NYRB has reissued Stendhal's Life of Henry Brulard. I know you have written about this book before, but I was wondering if you could say a few words both about the quality of the version NYRB has released and the aesthetic appeal of this memoir in general.

Michael Dirda: You could search for my dissertation at Cornell. The translation is very good, and the book is one of the most engaging memoirs ever written. It opens with STendhal at 50, standing above the city of Rome, looking down and starting to remember his early life.

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Urbandale, Iowa: I'm a sixty-one year old man who still loves to read Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises." I've probably re-read it nearly every year since sixth grade. How would you rate this novel?

Michael Dirda: His best. Or at least, it's pretty to think so.

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Boston, Mass.: Hi Michael!

My top books for 2004 are:

"Birds without Wing" - Louis De Bernieres

"The Reformation : A History" - Diarmaid MacCulloch

"The Shadow King" and "The Empress of The Last Days" - both by Jane Stevenson

"The Mind of the Middle Ages" - Frederick B.
Artz
-- Thanks so much for your writing about Artz in "Readings". The passage was so stirring I went searching to find out what he had written. I hope to tackle Marcia Colish's book on the subject soon. I picked up "Bound to Please" last month. It is a delight and given me a few new directions to pursue.

Quick question. Have you read C.P. Snow's he of Two Cultures fame) fictional series -"Masters and Brothers"? Any thoughts?
Hope 2005 is off to a good start.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I'm touched that my memories of Artz's library led you to his book.

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Icebergville, Minn.: Ahhhhh... so when Neil Gaiman writes about hearty (what we call corn-fed) women of Scandinavian decent in the book, he knows what he is talking about.

Good to know.

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. I suppose so.

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Washington, D.C.: I'm in the middle of Pynchon's Mason and Dixon, and I'm finding it very moving and intellectually thrilling. Critics such as James Wood have savaged novels that bring us the news or are "system novels" (Pynchon, Gaddis, Delillo), but Pynchon has always stood apart for me. I'm curious about what you think of his books and in general the kinds of "system novels" (maybe that was J. Franzen's label?) that used to be fashionable. I would argue that books like Gravity's Rainbow and M&D do not reflect fashion (as in shallow and trendy), but are part of a pantheon of works that stand apart (Gargantua and Pantagruel, Tristam Shandy, Jonathan Swift...).

Michael Dirda: Okay. Sorry to plug myself again, but I have a long piece on M and D in BTP--I think it an autumnal masterpiece, very moving, often funny, but obviously not the sort of thing GRavity fans were expecting.

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Washington: Michael,
First, thanks as always for the chats. What are your thoughts about the work of Guy Davenport? I've heard mixed appraisals of his work. Some have said he lived too much in Pound's shadow; others have praised him for groundbreaking work in the short story. (I've always thought it's a bit strange that people suddenly make pronouncements about the work of a writer just after he or she passes away when they could have made such pronouncements before. It doesn't seem like a good time to make clear critical judgments.) I haven't read Davenport's work before, and I was wonder where I should begin. Any suggestion? Also, I've seen it mentioned in this chat that you were on friendly terms with Davenport. Any reflections on his passing?

Michael Dirda: SIgh. I'm running out of steam--this damn flu--so I will direct you to my overview of Davenport in Readings. It's pegged to his collection The Hunter Gracchus.

And I"m sorry that I"m going to have to stop now. But I need to lie down--this flu is quite devastating--and in 30 minutes I need to go run car pool (ah, the literary life!--I somehow doubt that Edmund Wilson did much of this sort of thing.)

So next week, let's continue best books of 2004--there were a lot of questions this week I didn't get to--and look at reading lists for 2005.
Till then, keep reading!

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