| | Dirda on Books
Hosted by Michael Dirda
Washington Post Book World Senior Editor
Thursday, June 19, 2003; 2:00 p.m ET Washington Post Book World Senior Editor Michael Dirda took 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 describing his travels to, say, a P.G. Wodehouse Convention. 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 -- just the sort of range you'd expect from a Pulitzer Prize winner in criticism (1993). 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. In the fall of 2000 Indiana University Press published "Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments," a selection from Dirda's Book World columns. He hopes to bring out a companion volume soon. 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, Evelyn Waugh, T.S. Eliot, Nabokov, John Dickson Carr, Joseph Mitchell 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'd also like to spend six months in Florida writing a book that would become a runaway best seller, a critical success, and the hottest cinematic property of the year. A guy can daydream, right? The transcript follows. 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.
| Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books. Before we begin our weekly chat about the state of world literature, let us look, as usual, at the Washington weather. Rain and more rain. As a reporter here described it: This is the November of Junes.
Appropriately, I continue in my usual funk--wondering when I took the wrong turning on life's path--but still reading. I've just written a piece about the ghost stories of Vernon Lee, whose "Amour Dure" is my favorite example of this genre. For some reason I decided to get all dressed up today--a suit of inky black--but this hasn't cheered me up. Perhaps I need a lighter color?
But enough of this idle chatter. Let us turn to the Ugaritic folk-epics that provide the theme of today's discussion. Sing, O muse, of goats and sheep . . . .
Ignore that. It's a joke. Automatic writing. The drugs taking hold. On to the real discussion! ________________________________________________ Fairfax, Va.: Hi. I'm the bloke that was gonna read "White Noise" last week. Just wanted to give you my impressions. I hated it. Strongly and deeply. I thought, without hyperbole, that it was the worst book I'd ever read. I found it bland, self-absorbed and pretentious. I have never wanted to burn or deface a book until now. Why oh why it gets so much praise, not to mention a National Book Award -- it's enough to make me completely lose faith in humanity. Which brings me to my question: Which book or books have you openly detested, despite high critical and public acclaim? Which award-winning or -nominated book or books have caused an intensely negative visceral response in you? I invite everybody to share their bad reading experiences. Michael Dirda: Very few books have elicited that kind of reaction from me. But then I'm a soft reviewer, and my presumption is always that if a book doesn't work for me, it's my fault. So I try harder to understand what the author was doing or trying to do. You know, art doesn't have to be successful to matter; the experiments that try new things and fail are likely to be more valued than those that continue purring along down the well trodden ruts. One of my mottos is from Schopenhauer: We should stand before works of art like servants before their masters and wait until they speak to us.
That said, I have found a handful of books really meretricious--perhaps the best example is Judith Krantz's Dazzle. Not even the sex was interesting.
________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: (Asking super early in case you have better luck finding out what's up than I did.) Do you know if the Goodwill Book Sale is scheduled this year? It's cancellation last year was a not-so-minor tragedy in my household. I know it wouldn't be for several months, but I keep a list of books you recommend (among others) throughout the year and try to find them at the sale. I'm wondering if I should just cave already and start buying on Amazon.com. Thanks very much! Michael Dirda: I don't know if the Goodwill sale will go on this year or not. Haven't heart. But in truth I go to the sales a lot less often than in my younger, more virile booking days.
Still, there are other places for used books besides the Goodwill book sale. Used bookstores, for one. Most libraries now have shelves or rooms set aside for selling deaccessioned and donated volumes (Friends of the Library sponsor these in Montgomery County). And, of course, there's always the library itself. One needn't own everything one reads. I periodically meditate about getting rid of all my books and just getting borrowing privileges at the University of Maryland.
________________________________________________ Lansdale, Pa.: After reading your review of Hilary Spurling's 'The Girl from the Fiction Department' followed by a week of media frenzy over the non-revelations of Senator Clinton's memoir, I came up with this parody of Ogden Nash: One L Hilary writes real books,
Two L Hillary writes for schnooks,
And you may put me in a pillory
If you find a three L Hilllary. Michael Dirda: Very nice. Let us not bring up the Clintons this week, or the Bushes, or I'll start writing about Jane Austen, P.G. Wodehouse and John Dickson Carr again. ________________________________________________ Bethesda, Md.: Did you hear that Oprah has started up her book group again, this time with classics? She's picked East of Eden as her first recommendation. Any other suggestions for her?
Thanks! Michael Dirda: That Americans need a daytime television hostess to guide their reading is one of the sadder commentaries about culture in our time. Of course, if Oprah chooses An Open Book as her November selection, I will rapidly change my tune and speak warmly of her taste, intelligence and worthiness for the Nobel Prize in Literature. ________________________________________________ Lewisville, Tex.: I just finished reading Cold Comfort Farm and I'm completely baffled by the following paragraph describing a phone conversation between Flora at the farm and her friend Claud at Chiswick Mall, 50 miles away. Here goes. 'Claud twisted the television dial and amused himself by studying Flora's fair, pensive face. Her eyes were lowered and her mouth compressed over the serious business of arranging Elfine's future. He fancied she was tracing a pattern with the tip of her shoe. She could not look at him, because public telephones were not fitted with television dials.' My question is -- did telephones really have television dials back then that allowed images to be transmitted? I feel foolish even asking this considering that videophones have still not caught on. But then, why would Gibbons indulge in a flight of fancy that is completely incongruous in the context of this book? Or am I completely misinterpreting? Please clarify.
Michael Dirda: It's a little known fact that during the 1930s tele-video was widespread in the more rural parts of Britain. Sadly, it was a technology ahead of its time, as farming people found it too much trouble to get dressed up in order to make a call and so phones soon dropped their visual function, reverting to the aural alone. ________________________________________________ Ashburn, Va.: The Brothers Karamazov? Michael Dirda: What about it? Heck of a book. ________________________________________________ Winston-Salem, N.C.: Back in the 80s I loved the Fletch and Flynn novels by Gregory Mcdonald ( never thought that the Chevy Chase movies did him justice, the novels were almost all dialogue, wonderful reads). I saw somewhere recently that he had a new Flynn book I think coming out this year. Any buzz? Enjoy the chats. Michael Dirda: I loved them too--always thought Flynn never quite got the acclaim he should have. There is a new one, but I haven't read it yet and so can't report on its merits. Has anyone? ________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: Can you explain why anyone would want to read Hillary's book, let alone so many people that it is a runaway bestseller? I don't get it. It has nothing to do with how you feel politically about the Clintons. It's the fact that Hillary Clinton is a politician with political aspirations: Nothing she says will be genuine, honest or free of spin and posturing. What kind of sap plunks down $30 for what has to amount to a polemic? Michael Dirda: I truly don't understand myself. Simon and Schuster is a well-oiled publicity machine, and publishers make sure that they don't lose money on big investments by promoting such books every which way. But I clearly don't have my finger on the pulse of America. I always expect to see the new translation of Eca de Queiroz or Fernando Pessoa--to mention only two Portuguese writers--on the best seller list. Where they deserve to be. ________________________________________________ Independence, Mo.: Michael, I just picked up a copy of a book titled "Crescent" by Diana Abu-Jaber. I heard her interviewed on NPR and she was fascinating. I'm not far enough into the book to formulate any strong opinions... I think I'm going to enjoy it, but the middle-eastern names tend to slow me down and distract me a bit. I know she wrote at least one other book, "Arabian Jazz." Are you familiar with her at all or any of her work? Michael Dirda: I know both books received pretty good reviews, but haven't read either. Let us know what you think. ________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: This isn't a question; more of an observation. I don't think I could ever really like anyone who hated "White Noise." What a brilliant, funny, disturbing book.
Michael Dirda: Well, so much for my plans to set up a date for you with that earlier poster. You would have made such a sweet couple too. ________________________________________________ Lenexa, Kan.: Mr. Dirda: Up for a couple more "Smith or Wessons?"
Petrarch or Spenser?
Blake or Rilke?
Hugo or Thackeray?
Beckett or Kafka?
Jon or Marie (writings)? Also, did you happen to see Franzen's "school days" reminiscence piece in the current New Yorker? I thought it great fun. Thanks much. Michael Dirda: No, didn't see the Franzen. Having written my own memoir, I've lost a lot of my former interest in the genre.
Plus, all those guys are now competition.
Ok, here goes: Petrarch, Thackeray, Beckett, Jon (sorry Marie). Rilke is a great poet but smarmy as a man; I have no interest in rereading Hugo's prose (the poetry is a different matter). Kafka is best in his shorter stuff (plus Beckett is my god).
________________________________________________ Lewisville, Tex.: Thanks for your clarification on tele-videos. I would never have guessed that the technology existed way back then. Nice bit of learning for the day. Another pressing question for you -- do you get recognized in public, especially in bookstores? Do fans mob you and hound you for your autograph? Michael Dirda: You do know--and once one gets started on tongue in cheek stuff, it's so easy to be hoisted by one's own petard-that I was making that answer up. Gibbons was just indulging in a bit of fantasy.
Alas, no fans hounding me. That'll be the day. Bookstore personnel do recognize me, but usually keep a sharp eye out that I don't swipe their wares. I am, naturally, looking forward to the hordes of groupies that will be waiting outside my hotel rooms once I start my book tour. But rest assured ladies, as I am a man of a certain age, one needn't be under 20 to catch my eye. Why the sexiest woman I know is 49.
________________________________________________ Charlottesville, Va.: I'm reading E.B. White's essays again. They're wonderful, even the second time around. What else would you recommend I read? Michael Dirda: Ah, a second time around for The Second House from the Corner? You should also read White's letters--equally funny and shrewd and neatly written. You could then go on to his friend James Thurber and their colleagues at the New Yorker A.J. Liebling, Joseph Mitchell, Janet Flanner and M.F.K. Fisher. ________________________________________________ Somewhere, USA: I'm going to England and France (for the first time!) this summer, and I really need some good, preferably relevant to the area(s) books to read while there (and on the plane). Can you suggest anything? Also, if you know any good book-related places in or near Paris or London, I'd love to know of them so I could visit them. Thanks! Michael Dirda: Hmm. For books in London you should try the area around Cecil Court. But be warned: English books are very expensive, especially new ones. In Paris I used to order books from Guy Boussac, but don't know if it exists any more. Plus it's more a clearinghouse than a bookstore.
Wish I could help you more.
As for the reading: You could try Peter Ackroyd's monumental London--filled with interesting facts, or Alistair Horne's similar book on Paris. But it's hard to recommend books to represent England or France--these are the two great literary cultures of the west.
________________________________________________ Venus: Michael,
What reading material would you prescribe to someone who is suffering from a deadly combination of overwork, insomnia, heartache, and sun-deprivation? Note -- I don't want to become even more miserable than I already am.
Thanks. Michael Dirda: Magazines. Glossy magazines, with lots of pictures.
How about John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces? Funny and with a "there but for the grace of God go I" quality to it. ________________________________________________ New York, N.Y.: What makes her sexy? Michael Dirda: Her radiant self. ________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: I read a book of Might Magazine essays collected as "The Shiny Adidas Track Suit," or something like that. Please recommend something similar in essays or longer non-fiction. Michael Dirda: Never heard of Might Magazine, let alone this book. Am I out of it, or what? Any help out there? ________________________________________________ Book Sales: For the chatter looking for book sales, unfortunately the annual Stone Ridge sale has come and gone, but mark you calendars for APRIL 2 - APRIL 5, 2004. It is quite an amazing experience. Michael Dirda: thanks ________________________________________________ New York, N.Y.: I just moved to New York City and am trying to learn some of the city's textured history. Do you know what (famous or infamous) writers took up residence here for any extended length of time? Michael Dirda: There are books--histories and anthologies--on just this theme. Ask at a bookstore. I mean there's no end of writers who've lived and worked in New York. ________________________________________________ Augusta, Ga.: Do you ever read books sent to you that are unsolicited? Michael Dirda: I look at everything. ________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: Coincidentally, both my boyfriend and I are reading books, both fiction, that are set in our (different) hometowns. He's been very disturbed that the author wasn't completely true to Detroit, facts were changed, street names not accurate, etc. While these same transgressions occur in my (Norwich, Conn.) set book, I just attribute them to literary license and storytelling and am not bothered by them. What's your take on fiction writers taking this sort of license? Michael Dirda: Unless names have been changed to protect the innocent or avoid libel or invasion of privacy, I don't see any reason why regional fiction shouldn't be scrupulous about its geography and people. ________________________________________________ Lisbon (I wish!): Michael, you knock me out sometimes... you namedropped Fernando Pessoa -- to my left is my nearly finished copy of his Book of Disquiet. I'd like to share with you something I underlined about 15 minutes ago: We weary of everything, said the scholiast, except understanding. Let us understand, let us keep understanding, and let us make ghostly flowers out this understanding, shrewdly entwining them into wreaths and garlands which are also doomed to wilt. (text 238) Michael Dirda: Ah, yes, I'd recognize that tone anywhere. Which translation have you been reading? Jull Costa or Zenith or MacAdam? ________________________________________________ Alexandria, Va.: I love Tom Wolfe, who often says his biggest influences were Zola and Balzac. I've read Balzac, and now I'm contemplating digging into Zola's "Nana." Any thoughts on Zola and his oeuvre? Michael Dirda: Zola is a great novelist, sometimes demeaned as being less than artful because he packs so much into his work. His greatest novel is Germinal, about a coal mining strike. A magnificent book in every way. L'Assommoir is a chilling and heartbreaking account of working class life in Paris and the pull of alcoholism. (The couple at the heart of the book are the parents of the courtesan Nana.) Therese Raquin is a terrific psychological suspense thriller. Oh, Zola is great. ________________________________________________ Bethesda, Md.: I have to agree with the previous poster who detested White Noise-it made me queasy reading it, despite the fact that I loved Underworld. Another book that I thought did not deserve the acclaim it got was Empire Falls by Richard Russo (I think it won a Pulitzer?)--it really disappointed me in the end. It's interesting that you say you feel it's your fault if a book doesn't speak to you; couldn't it also be that you and the book just weren't a good match? Sometimes it's no one's fault. Michael Dirda: Of course, you're right. And sometimes we're just not ready for certain books too. ________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: Hi Michael -- Will you be out at midnight tomorrow, getting a copy of the Harry Potter book with your son(s)? Even reviewers have to line up, I hear. Michael Dirda: No. I'm tired of Harry Potter. My son can fend for himself, or get his mother to buy it for him. ________________________________________________ New York, N.Y.: Speaking of magazines, every so often I like to read one between books. What are your favorites? Michael Dirda: Oh, I look at all kinds--the Times Literary Supplement, the Spectator, The American Scholar, etc. etc.--but also, when I start daydreaming about a new, sexier me, Men's Health, Maxim and Gentleman's Quarterly. In truth, I mainly read book reviews and look at the pictures. ________________________________________________ B of D translation: the new Penguin Classics by Zenith. He also translated fellow Portuguese Antonio Lobo-Antunes' latest as well. Michael Dirda: Supposed to be the best. I reviewed Zenith's best of Pessoa or whatever it was called. ________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: The now defunct Might Magazine was edited by Dave Eggers and was satirical in nature. I bought the book of collected essays from it a few years ago after reading a favorable review in the [drum roll, please] Washington Post Book World. Michael Dirda: Still never heard of it. I'm also tired of Dave Eggers, who I'm told now goes--I suppose as an ironic joke--as just Dave on the paperback of his latest book.
The book I am enjoying now is The Rise of Western Christendom, A.D. 200-1000, by the redoubtable Peter Brown, my scholarly hero. ________________________________________________ Pentagon City, Va.: Where is the Stone Ridge book sale? (Ok, I haven't lived here long, so sue me if it's actually in a place called Stone Ridge Virginia or Maryland)
Thanks! Michael Dirda: Stone Ridge School, out past downtown Bethesda on Old Georgetown Road. ________________________________________________ Lewisville, Tex.: Sorry to go on about the video-phone bit in Cold Comfort Farm. Actually, I really did fall for your first reply. Note to self -- cut down on Mother Goose and Sandra Boynton readings to 8-month old and brush up on the history of technology. My question is -- why do authors make up and include such stuff in books where they aboslutely don't belong? Just because they can? It has somehow lessened my liking for CCF. Michael Dirda: Frankly, I don't remember that bit at all, but people do tend to be fanciful in comic novels. I mean Evelyn Waugh has an imagined World War just before the end of, is it Vile Bodies? Hang loose.
Sandra Boynton is great. I hope you're reading my favorite nursery rhyme, "Over in the Meadow" ideally with Paul Galdone illustrations. ________________________________________________ Lenexa, Kan.: I've always liked accuracy in settings too. It seems to have greater overall impact if authentic. I think that's part of the appeal of Pelecanos for one. It was also a part of the movie experience (a conscious effort to validate the towns depicted) in Walker Percy's The Moviegoer as I recall. Michael Dirda: Thanks. You know George Pelecanos lives 10 minutes from my house in Silver Spring. ________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: So, who would play you if your memoir ever made it to the big screen? Michael Dirda: Ah, we're talking about a kid from 4 to 19, so it would be impossible to have a single actor. We'll have to use animation or something. Probably a composite of the young Leonard da Caprio with the brooding intensity of the young Johnny Depp. And--and as this is fantasy--the abs of young Brad Pitt. ________________________________________________ Washington, D.C.: Michael, For the chatter looking for info about writers and NYC, I've got a bit of a different recommendation. There's a great new book out by Leonard Marcus called "Storied City" that looks at places in NYC that are featured in famous children's books like "Harriet the Spy" and "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile." What a great way to see the city! Michael Dirda: Good suggestion. ________________________________________________ Richmond, Va.: Speaking of letters -- Flannery O'connor's are wonderful -- as is the title of the collection "The Habit of Being" -- And while I'm on Catholic writers, I just finished Muriel Spark's Loitering with Intent -- what an interesting writer she is -- are you a fan? Michael Dirda: Love Flannery O's letters--funny, wise, moving and all those kinds of adjectives. Really.
I like Sparks early books--Memento Mori, in particular. ________________________________________________ Beckett is Your God?: Samuel Beckett, dramatist? Samuel Beckett was a funny guy -- not what you might think from someone who wrote such strange, (seemingly?) pessimistic stuff. One of my favorite lines is his -- "My mistakes are my life."
Michael Dirda: All of Beckett, but I'm very fond of the prose. Look at my great review of the biography by James Knowlson--one of the three or four best things I've ever done in that line.
I keep a slogan from Beckett in mind all the time:
"No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
My mistakes are my life is good, but I still prefer Alexandre Pope's version: "This long disease, my life." ________________________________________________ Might Magazine: Stone Ridge is out Wisconsin Avenue/Rockville Pike, and NOT on Old Georgetown. It's just north of Bethesda, past the Naval Hospital. Michael Dirda: Oh, all those roads look alike. ________________________________________________ Fairfax, Va.: Since Harry Potter is in the news so much, this question seems appropriate: I just started the first book in the series, and it's not doing a lot for me, despite my love of good children's books. Granted, I'm only a couple of chapters in -- 30-40 pages -- and I know that E.B. White is dead, but I still was expecting more. Am I going to be disappointed? Should I forge on ahead? Michael Dirda: I've only read the first two books. The first is good; the writing isn't particularly distinguished, but Rowling knows how to make a story go--she's learned a lot from Roald Dahl. Everyone tells me that three and four are the best. ________________________________________________ Baltimore, Md.: Michael -- When are you going to resume writing your wonderful essays on the reading life? On another note, when can fans of Anne Tyler expect her next book? Thanks! Michael Dirda: I've retired the Readings column--at least for a while. An Open Book took up a lot of that energy, and it is a kind of 300 page Readings essay. But in truth, after a hundred or so of those pieces it began to get harder and harder to find new things to write about. I've had some ideas, but I'm just putting them in a notebook. Maybe I'll start again some other time. Or maybe that period of my writing life is over. ________________________________________________ Woodbridge, Va.: Your comments about books being expensive in England reminded me that I would like to visit that town in Wales that is full of used book stores, and that in turn reminded me that I have a visit scheduled to Texas, and I have been wondering whether a side trip to McMurtry's Archer City used book stores might be worth my time. Has anyone been there? I have been told that the books are fairly expensive--is this true? Michael Dirda: Hay on Wye. Never been to either. I think books can be expensive there, but if it's a title you really want and don't see often, the price is irrelevant. ________________________________________________ Eggersville, Calif.: "Dave" was a production mistake. http://www.mcsweeneys.net/correction.html It's recently been reported that Dave Eggers's new paperback version of You Shall Know Our Velocity is credited only to "Dave," without the author's last name. When we first saw this reported, by a small online newsletter, we had no idea what they were talking about. We have since discerned that some catalogs put out by Vintage, the book's paperback publisher, featured a mockup book jacket that was somehow missing the author's last name. This was a production mistake, and one that was quickly corrected. The actual paperbacks, along with everything Dave Eggers has ever done, feature his first and last name. Michael Dirda: Is there really an Eggersville, Calif.? I would like to think so. Well, I rather liked my idea of just Dave being a piece of consummate post-modern irony. Too bad. ________________________________________________ Gullsgate, Minn.: Michael Dirda: I read "the Critic As Artist" on James Woods first novel by Wayatt Mason in the latest Harpers. Maybe it was the wee hours and a mind working at a slower pace but I was totally turned off by the conceived attempt by both reviewer and the reviewed--is there a legitimate criticism being pursued by either/or--or some type of critical elitism bearing down distainfully on all other writers? Michael Dirda: Don't quite follow this, and I haven't read the piece you describe. Don't know Wayatt Mason, but James Wood is a very intelligent critic and a not-close friend. His novel is supposed to be quite good--and funny too (which his essays often aren't). Maybe you should try Dave Eggers? Or if you want more playful essays about books, wait till next spring when my new collection comes out.
________________________________________________ Wrong Path ... ?: What makes you think you made a wrong turn? You get to read for a living, for crying out loud! How can that possibly be considered 'wrong'? Michael Dirda: Ah, there's more to life than just reading, my friend. And, by the way,I also work as an editor for three days a week, and we have just had installed a whole new computer system called CCI that I don't understand. And I am 54 years old and how far short of my dreams I've fallen! Not that I haven't a helluva a lot to be grateful for. At least I'm not working in a steel mill any more.
And that is it for this week of Dirda on Books-a program that might be more accurately described as Dirda on Dirda with occasional glances at books and reading.
Still next week at 2 on Thursday, I hope you'll all keep reading. Or at least looking at magazines.
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