Dirda on Books – Transcript Michael Dirda Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 29, 1999

Michael Dirda The Washington Post

Michael Dirda's name appears weekly in The Post's Book World section. If he's not reviewing a fat literary biography or an ambitious new novel, he's likely to be writing a lighthearted essay about the joys and burdens of living in a house filled with way too many books. Although he holds a PhD in comparative literature from Cornell, Dirda is still smart enough to be an unabashed fan of "The Simpsons," noting that "the show's genius derives from its details." He also loves P.G. Wodehouse, intellectual history, children's books and locked-room mysteries – just the sort of range you'd expect from a Pulitzer Prize winner for distinguished criticism.

These days, Dirda says he spends inordinate amounts of time mourning his lost youth and daydreaming ("my only real pastime"). Otherwise he just reads books and writes about them, with occasional visits to secondhand bookstores in search of treasures. He claims that the happiest hours of his week are spent sitting in front of a computer working on his reviews and Readings columns. "Do not imagine that I regard my taste for literary artifacts as anything but shameless and vulgar," Dirda says, "I have sunk so low as to covet Edward Gorey coffee mugs. I yearn for a bust of Dante to place on a bookcase."

Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books, broadcasting from the beautiful campus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. It's been fun teaching here--and I have most of the semester still to go--but I will be making a quick dash to DC to co-chair Montgomery College's book festival this Sunday on October 3. So if you're in the DC area and love books, consider going out to the festival. Authors, lectures, and books galore! Now on to the chat.

Kansas City, MO: I'm responding to a question that someone asked last week about websites that list booksignings and readings. Publishers Weekly has a page on their website called Authors on the Highway. The web address is http:--www.publishersweekly.co m-highway. You can search for appearances by author, title, city, state, bookstore or publisher. Info can also be submitted to the site. It certainly doesn't cover ALL events -it's only as good as the information it's given!- but it's the only national database that I've come across.

Michael Dirda: Thanks for the info. I regularly look at PW's print version, but haven't yet gotten hooked on their website.

Springfield, PA: Hi, I enjoy this chat a great deal. I don't have a question right now, but I'm writing to say that I have just finished reading the third Harry Potter book to my 7 and 9 year old daughters and it was my favorite of the three - I hope you have time to read it yourself. On the H. Potter note,it is so great that the current 'in' thing for kids is actually books -i.e. the Potter books-. It restores some faith in mankind. Also my girls were so excited when it arrived. My 11 yr old started reading ahead and then stopped because she wanted it to last longer. I stopped reading one night with two chapters left. The next day, my 9 yr old told me she couldn't sleep that night wondering what would happen to Harry.Then she begged me not to wait til evening to finish the book.Finally, as was the case with the other two Potter books the girls reread them s again and again. My point is no matter where the books stand in terms of critical praise - these books are a treasure.

Michael Dirda: I reviewed the first two Potter books, with great enthusiasm and only a few mild reservations. In the main, I don't think they're major works of children's literature, with a capital L, unlike, say, Philip Pullman's books (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife), which are richer, denser and more beautifully written. But Harry has certainly captured the imagination of kids, made lots of families excited about books, and for that I can offer nothing but thanks. I said at the end of my review of book 2 that I could hardly wait for the third, and that's still how I feel. My 12 year old asked if I would be bringing the third book home and if I can't snag a review copy I guess I'll just have to buy it. And for a professional reviewer to admit that about a new book is really saying something.

Washington, DC: Not to delve too much into politics here, but I was wondering if you've read Bill Bradley's memoir "Time Past, Time Present." If so, what was your overall impression of the book? I see it on display a lot in bookstores these days, for obvious reasons. It seems unique in its "seriousness" for a political-celebrity memoir in that it has no co-author and is published by Vintage International which tends to be known for weightier stuff. Anyway, I'm curious to hear -read- your thoughts.

Michael Dirda: Alas, I haven't read it. The only Bradley book I know is John McPhee's ancient classic A Sense of Where You Are, about Bradley the basketball star. I do know that his wife, Ernestine Schlant, is an expert on German literature. I'd love a first lady like that, and I'd vote for him for that reason alone.

Kilkenny, Ireland: `"He was one hundred and seventy
days dying and not yet dead. He fought for survival with the passion of a beast in a trap. He was delirious and rotting,
coming downstairs now, bump bump bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin." Yes, it's Tigger! Tigger!
by Alfred Bester and A.A.Milne. The US title is of course The Stairs My Destination.'

I came across the above yesterday on the web, and would like to ask you about literary parodies of this sort - what have you read that you can recommend?

Michael Dirda: This is delightful. Kenneth Tynan once wrote a Faulkner parody in which the stage manager of thornton Wilder's Our Town recounts the action of the play version of Intruder in the Dust. Hilarious, to have this downhome character, with a Southern accent, describe various rapes, murders, etc. Also, there's an amazing mixture of Wodehouse and Lovecraft in a little chapbook called Scream for Jeeves! Can't quite remember the author's name. For parodies in general, you can of course start with Dwight MacDonald's classic collection, or a similar one, if less well known, by Burling Lowrey (of Washington). But I love the one you quote. Oh yes, in Terry Pratchett's Pyramids you have the final exam of a professional assassin administered in the official tone of an automobile licensing test. Quite funny, as is everything Pratchett writes.

Silver Spring: Mr. Dirda - I have a question regarding the Harry Potter books. Why is it that the NY Times has these books on its best seller list while the Washington Post omits these books from its list?

Michael Dirda: I don't know. Unless they're simply not selling well enough, which seems unlikely. I do know that we used to run R.L Stine's books on the list with some regularity. I'm down here in Florida, so I can't look into this directly, but I will mention the issue to my colleagues on my forthcomign visit home.

Leesburg, VA: Hi Michael!

Would you kindly offer a best
book recommendation on
BENJAMIN DISRAELI? Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Disraeli's most famous novel is probably Coningsby, though Vivian Grey offers an amusing portrait of a dandy. The standard modern life is Lord Blake's.

rockville, md: How do you account for the heated language in exchanges between authors and reviewers?
In most published letters, even about sports and politics, the vitriol is controlled, but it seems that civility goes out the window when an author doesn't like a review, or a reviewer is criticized by an author. See, for example, some of Edmund Morris' comments in his exchange today or Jonathan Yardley's comments on Monday about Maureen Dowd.

Michael Dirda: Authors put a lot of themselves into books and tend to be less use to the public scrutiny suffered by athletes and politicos. An attack on a book is often construed--or intended--as an attack on the writer's character. Plus there's often money involved--always a delicate matter. Some people, like my colleague Jon Yardley, are scrappers by nature; others, such as myself, tend to be conciliators. The basic rule is this: No author ever wants to hear anything but praise.

Washington, DC: Who is Trevanian? The books never have a first name, bio, or picture?

Michael Dirda: Years ago, there was speculation about his identity and several names were put forward, none of which I remember. I believe most of the books are written by the same guy, but I have this vague memory that there is speculation that there is more than one author behind the name.

Omaha, NE: I am eagerly anticipating your piece regarding teaching university classes. Any chance of continuing that pursuit in Washington on a part-time basis?

Michael Dirda: From time to time, I've been asked to teach a class at the University of maryland, and years ago did teach literary journalism one year at American University. My hesitation has always been financial: The pay for adjunct professors is so low that it's hardly worth the effort, unless one has hopes of proceeding on to a full-time job. Here at the University of Central Florida I'm paid a real professor's salary--one of the reasons I was able to take the job in the first place. So, I guess the answer is maybe--but with three kids, etc. I have to allocate my time fairly closely. Frankly, I wish I could just sit around and read, visit bookstores, and write. Which, of course, is what most people think I do anyway. Alas, there's more to it than that.

Omaha, NE: I enjoyed your review of Calvino's new work this weekend. Will you be reviewing Updike's new work of criticism -which I guess is more a work of collected reviews and essays than a new original work-?

Michael Dirda: No, I don't think so. A dozen years ago, I wrote a long piece on a previous Updike collection: Hugging the Shore. And I've reviewed one of his novels--Brazil--fairly recently. I bow to no one in my general admiration for Updike as a critic and all-round man of letters: He is frankly amazing and awe-inspiring, both in the catholicity of his taste, shrewdness of his judgments and beauty of his prose. I will certainly acquire the new book, in one way or another.

Omaha, NE: Will you be reviewing the new work written from Lolita's point of view -I think it is named Lo's Diary but I am not sure that is right-? Do you think Dmitri Nabokov had a point in filing suit to prevent publication of this work?

Michael Dirda: I do plan to review Lo's Diary, in part because I've been teaching Lolita down here. I'm not up on the latest concerning the novel; my proof says that Dmitri N will be contributing an afterword or preface as a condition for the book's American publication. But maybe all that is ancient history.

Arlington, VA: Marion Zimmer Bradley died earlier this week. Since you enjoy science fiction, do you have any comments on her work?

Michael Dirda: Wrongly or rightly, I never took much interest in Bradley. I probably should have read The Mists of Avalon, but didn't at the time, and as the years proceeded she became both prolific and, to my outsider's eye, rather generic. Weren't there, in fact, a lot of sharecroppers helping her with her later books? Any writer's death diminishes us, so I mourn her passing. As it happens, a colleague down here was recently berating me for not knowing more about Mists.

Downtown DC: Since you're such a Wodehouse fan, you might get a kick out of this: I found a website for a travel company that conducts Wodehouse-themed tours of England! Theoretically, at least, they'll take you to the Blandings Castle area of Shropshire, Aunt Dahlia's, etc. Of course, I can't remember the name of the company--Lord Sombody-or-Other's--or the Web addres, but look up "Psmith" and cross-reference it with "Wodehouse" and you'll come across it.
By the way, I read "Leave it to Psmith" on your recommendation, and found it to be the funniest book I've ever read--and that includes the Jeeves and Wooster stories!

Michael Dirda: Glad to hear about the website--and even more gratified to hear that you loved Psmith. It's my favorite too, though many people prefer Code of the Woosters. You might be interested in knowing that the biannual Wodehouse convention starts tomorrow in Houston, and several members of the DC chapter of the Wodehouse Society--called Capital! Capital!--will be in attendance. You might want to come to the breakfasts offered every couple of months. Lots of fun. I gave a paper, two years ago, at the Chicago convention--sponsored by the Chicago Accident Syndicate, as that chapter is known--and it was one of the most amusing three days of my life. As I type this I can look up to see a framed poster from that meeting. My talk was devoted to which Wodehouse titles critics had judged the best. The winners were: Code of the Woosters, Right-Ho Jeeves, Leave it to Psmith, Uncle Fred in the Springtime and, I think, The Mating Season (another personal fave). Among the stories the two winners were "Uncle Fred Flits By" and "Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend." REcently I found a nice English first here in Orlando of Ice in the Bedroom, a title I lacked. In some form or other I think I own all but a dozen of Wodehouse's 90 or so books.

Arlington, VA: Many authors start off writing book adaptions of movies. Have you ever done that? If not, what movie would most like to write an adaptation for?

Michael Dirda: Do many authors do this? I have friends who have done it--Elizabeth Hand, for instance, did the novelization of 12 Monkeys. I really don't know which book I'd adapt to film--my favorite writers haven't always fared very well. But maybe a Robertson Davies book, like Fifth Business or What's Bred in the Bone, might make a good movie. I'd also enjoy trying to caputre the atmosphere of M.R. james's ghost stories, or Robert Aickman's. On a related note, I do have a couple of friends who wrote V novels--original novels based on the background of the old V tv series about alien invaders. In fact, a couple of these were dedicated to me, one by S.P.Somtow called The Alien Swordmaster and another by Tim Sullivan called, I think, The Maine Resistance. Since the series was clearly based on Damon Knight's famous story "To Serve Man" I gave Tim some elments for his plot and told him to call a crtochety old Mainer Pythias Day in homage to Damon Knight.

Washington, DC: I found it interesting that you taught Literary Journalism at AU as I am currently taking that class -it meets tonight- from Henry Taylor! Related to that, and your comment on the catholicity of Updike's tastes, how do you explain your own far-ranging interests? As someone in the "general practice," do you ever regret not chosing a "speciality"?

Michael Dirda: I do have a specialty--literature. It's just a very big specialty. In grad school I spepnt two years as a medievalist, then took two more years of courses in European Romanticism. I read a lot in intellectual history, and obvious focus on contemporary literature. What I like about my job is that I don't get slotted into a single subject or area. But there are writers and subject I know as well as many scholars: Evelyn Waugh and Vladimir Nabokov, for instance, and the locked-room mystery and classic English and European fantasy, especially the ghost story.

C'ville, VA: I noticed your approval of Updike's criticism, but I haven't read any of his fiction...where do you recommend I start?

Michael Dirda: There's a lot of variety in his fiction. Updike himself used to recommend a paperback collection called Olinger Stories. The most generally admired books are the four about Rabbit Angstrom, now gathered together in a fat omnbius vbolume. The first is Rabbit, Run.

Philadelphia, PA: Mr. Dirda: On a recent sojourn in Athens, Greece -if two weeks with the in-laws can be called a sojourn-, I managed to find English translations of some modern Greek authors that are very hard to find here in the States -e.g., Nikos Kazantzakis' "Peace and Death", stories by Stratus Myrivilis -my favorite, author of the novel "The Mermaid Madonna"- and other writers-. Are you familiar with modern Greek literature, and if so, are there any particular writers-books you would recommend highly?

Michael Dirda: Not terribly familiar, alas. Katzantzakis' Zorba the Greek was extremely influential on me as a young man--it sent me on my first date, but that's another story--and I, like many others, revere the poetry of Cavafy. Beyond that, I know bits and pieces only of Elytis, Seferis and various other writers of modern Greek poetry.

Kansas City, Missouri: You mentioned John McPhee's
book about Bill Bradley, A
Sense of Where You Are. I'm a
big McPhee fan, and recently
finished that one. Although it
talks about Bradley as a
basketball player, you get a
wonderful feel for Bradley as
a solid and fine human being
too, and with the elections
coming up, makes a great read.
I'd highly re

Michael Dirda: Thanks for the confirmation of the book's merits.

Washington, DC: A year or so ago, in response to the Modern Library's "100 Top Novels of the Century" list, you published your own list of the "100 Top Humorous Novels." I loved this list, and I've been working on tracking down some of the more obscure books on it. What I'd like to know is if there's anything you feel that -1- has been published recently that might make it on that list or -2- should not have been left off in the first place. Thanks.

Michael Dirda: There was a follow-up column to the list in which I added a dozen titles submitted by readers. I'm sure that there are books to add, but I haven't read them yet. For instance, I suspect that Charles Portis's The Dog of the South should be on the list--I've brought it down here--but haven't read it yet. Also, A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole. but that may have been on the supplmentary list.

Washington, DC: Do you think electronic books will ever find a following and over time phase out our beloved volumes?

Michael Dirda: Yes. I suspect we'll all have some kind of book-computer that can access everything ever written. Books are wonderful, but then so were scrolls.

Philadelphia, PA: Mr. Dirda: I have read in the past that you are a fan of Lord Dunsany's books. I recently found that a couple of them have been reissued, but there is nary a sign of the Jorkens books which you have praised. Do you know of any movement to bring the Jorkens books back into print?

Michael Dirda: Not really. I once hoped Owlswick Press--run by Dunsanhy fans--might do an omnibus of all the Jorkens storeis, but I've stopped holding my breath. With a little effort you can find The Travel Tales of Joseph Jorkens in second hand shops, and The Fourth Book of Jorkens is also findable. The others are all hard to come by. there is a Dover paperback, edited by E.F. Bleiler, called Gods, Ghosts and Something or Other--it includes four or five Jorkens stories. Also, years ago Lin Carter edited three volumes ofo Jorkens stories for a Ballantine fantasy series--these can be found, but may cost you $10 apiece. If someone wants to publish a collected Jorkens, I stand ready to write the introduction.

Leesburg, Virginia: You state: "No author ever wants to hear anything but praise." That's for sure. Especially in Mr. Yardley's
case. His skin is thin-to-the
bone!

Michael Dirda: Clearly, I've been missing out on some heated exchanged up there in DC.

Tarrytown, FL: Good afternoon, Mr. Gumbiner! Have you read, and if so, what is your opinion on the collection, The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike?

Michael Dirda: Mr. Gumbiner? My brain must be tired because I'm not registering this reference, though it's probably something so obvious I'll kick myself over in a few minutes. I glanced at the contents of the big Updike collection and was impressed that it contained lots of stories I didn't know. Still, if Updike has read and liked them, they are bound to be worthwhile, at the very least. There was probably no point in doing an anthology of stories that everyone already knew about.

Washington, DC: Hi Michael,
Several years ago I saw a terrible movie called 'Memoirs of an Invisible Man.' I was telling this to my brother and he encouraged me to read the book by the author, H. F. Saint. I found the book fascinating, and couldn't put it down. Do you know if this author has written any other books and do you think the publisher would have a second printing?

Michael Dirda: I remember Memoirs came out at the same time as Thomas Berger's BEcoming Invisible--and was generally regarded as much the better book. I don't think Saint has ever published anything more. Check the used bookstores and I'll bet you can turn up a copy of the original hardcover.

Washington, DC: My book club is meeting this Sunday; we read The Red and the Black for this meeting. Would you suggest a question or two to get our discussion started off? Thanks!

Michael Dirda: Ask them which characters they most identify with. When I was young--13 or 14--I saw myself as Julien; in my 20s I was enamored with Mathilde de la Mole; now I know that Madame de Renal is the great heart of the book. Stendhal is so wonderful with women. What male reader doesn't fall in love with Gina Sanseverina in The Charterhouse of Parma?

DC: Mr. Dirda, a pleasure to make your aquaintance. I unfortunately have an incredibly dull and typical question for you. What brilliant way did you get your start in such a great career?

Michael Dirda: Start with a youth misspent in libraries, followed by at least a couple of hours of reading every day for most of my life. Add a checkered college career and graduate school, mostly spent reading arcane things. Worked briefly as a translator and technical writer. Then started reviewing for Book world. They liked my work, knew my background, and offered me a job 21 and a half years ago. The rest is history. Or possibly farce.
Well, that's all for this week, folks. Till next Wednesday at 2--keep reading!

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