Dirda on Books – Transcript Michael Dirda Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 1, 1999

Michael Dirda The Washington Post

Following is a transcript of the discussion.

Washington, DC: Hi Michael,

Did you catch the "Simpsons" Halloween special? I particularly liked The Collector. Anyway, a friend of mine recently recommended the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett -sp?-. I was excited to see that there were a lot of these books. I picked one up in a bookstore to read the cover and saw a quote from a review of yours. So I guess I have several questions. Do you recommend any of the Discworld novels in particular? Does it matter if they are read in order? Is it a series where the characters continue from book to book? My other area of curiosity has to do with the one-line quotes of reviews that show up on book covers. Did you really like this book? Have you ever found a quote from your review on a book you didn't like? When I was in grad school, I had to read Conquest of Paradise for a class, and one of the quotes on the cover was taken from a review that shredded the book to pieces. However, they were able to string together portions of sentences from the review to make it sound favorable.

Michael Dirda: Greetings from Orlando! Actually that sounds altogether too upbeat. This morning I received a very expensive speeding ticket--to say I feel victimized is not the half of it--and am currently wishing I had never set foot in Florida. Or at least set foot to accelerator in what turns out to have been not an empty road, but an empty road in front of a school zone. Sigh. I need to read some consoling wisdom literature of the "all is vanity" sort. But there's no time, since I'm behind on myriad projects. But wait--you guys don't want to hear all this. You want to talk books. So on to the questions.

I missed the "Simpsons" Halloween this year, but trust that my noisy offspring recorded it for me. I do love the Terry Pratchett novels--they are extremely funny, well written and ingenious. I think he's the best comic novelist now going. There are several threads in the Discworld series--three or four books trace the adventures of the Night Guard at the city Ankh-Morpork, several focus on DEATH who always speaks in capital letters; and yet another group of novels takes up the exploits of various witches. Perhaps the best known character is Rincewind, an inept wizard. Almost all the books are good, but you might want to start with Mort--a tale of what happens when DEATH takes an apprentice. I'd probably choose an early book in general--much of the humor in the later ones derives from familiarity with the characters and their personalities.

In general, publishers are scrupulous and don't turn negative reviews into positive ones. But I have had quotes taken out of context--I had a good many reservations about Cormac McCarthy's Cities of the Plains, but only my positive remarks were reprinted on the paperback.

Albuquerque, NM: You've often noted your admiration for the essays of Guy Davenport and William Gass. I'm also an admirer and would like to know if you can point me to any other essayists of a similar ilk. Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Some other favorite essayists and reviewers: Joseph Epstein, Max Beerbohm, Randall Jarrell, Cyril Connolly, Virginia Woolf, Jeanette Winterson, Evelyn Waugh, M.F.K. Fisher. Also, if you like Davenport, you should read his friend, the great critic Hugh Kenner. The Pound Era is his masterpiece. A writer similar to Gass in his love for exuberant language is Paul West, whose essays are in three volumes from Mcpherson and Co.

Washington, DC: Mr. Dirda,

Although stung by your easy dismissals of John McDonald and C.S. Forrester, I continue to search for common ground -Well, actually, I do share your enthusiasm for Martin Dressler. I'm currently reading I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn. She strikes me as one of those lyrical prose stylists that you might like. Do you have any thoughts, and do you know if she has any works in progress?

Thanks--

Michael Dirda: I'm prepared to be wrong on both MacDonald and Forester, both writers I haven't looked at in decades. I read one or two Travis McGees and they just didn't catch fire for me--as much as I had hoped they would. What should I read? Don't know Mendelsohn's work, alas.

Washington, D.C.: What is the critical consensus of Thomas Wolfe? I tried reading You Can't Go Home Again once and had to put it aside because of its convolution. Is it just me, or is his style-language thought to be, like Faulkner's, difficult to follow?

And was that a poor choice of books to start off with on my exploration of Wolfe? If so, what would you recommend?

Michael Dirda: Wolfe is generally regarded as one of those writers you need to read while young. He does overwrite, famously so. Look Homeward Angel is probably the book to read, if you're reading only one.

Washington, DC: Did you love to read as a child? What were your favorite childhood books?

Michael Dirda: Yes, my mother taught me to read when I was 4. I read everything I could find--people always say this--but particularly loved adventure stories: Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, the Hardy Boys, Rick Brant, Tom Swift, Father Brown, Dr. Fu Manchu--that sort of thing. In 5th grade I started reading Agatha Christie mysteries and Robert Heinlein sf. In 7th grade I read Crime and Punishment and from then on read just about anything and everything.

Washington, D.C.: Can you recommend any books written by Spanish -Catalan even better- authors? I am headed to Barcelona next week and I wanted to get "in the mood." Thanks!

Michael Dirda: Hmm. You might try Camilo Jose Cela's powerful The Family of Pascual Duarte--very brooding and violent (ends with a son killing his mother). You could read Lorca's poetry. Or, if ambitious, the demanding novels of Juan Goytisolo (I don't know these myself). When I traveled to Spain decades ago I read books about the Spanish Civil War, in particular George Orwell's Homage to Catlonia and Andre Malraux's Man's Hope (L'Espoir).

Centreville, VA: Enjoyed your column on New Orleans. But don't you think tacky and garish are sort of the point? Fun and life-affirming! Quiet good taste is all very well in its place but once in a while you have to break loose. And by the way my mother used to love Frances Parkinson Keyes.

I have a question for you; why is Tom Holt so hard to find? I just finished Open Sesame, his best yet in my opinion, involving Ali Baba, the Tooth Fairy and King Solomon's Ring. I bought it in Northern Virginia but under the peel-off price sticker it says Not For Sale in the USA and shows a price in pounds. Is there some conspiracy to deprive Americans of this hilarious writer?

Michael Dirda: Well, you're right of course about the tacky and garish being the point. But usually such things tick me off and in New Orleans they seemed utterly charming. Everybody of a certain age read Keyes--she was a big best seller, though now pretty much forgotten. Right up there with F. Van Wyck Mason and Taylor Caldwell and Thoms B. Costain.

It's a mystery to me why Holt doesn't sell better here. I read his first four novels, reviewed Flying Dutch, and thought he was wonderfully civilizing entertainment. Did you know that early in his career he wrote two sequels to E.F. Benson's classic Lucia novels? I'm fairly sure that his last three to five books were never officially published here. You must have found an import. I certainly would have bought a copy, had I seen one. On the other hand, Terry Pratchett--a gargantuan success world-wide--is hardly known in the U.S. outside a circle of ardent fans. There are mysteries here.

Bethesda, MD: Twice recently you've mentioned Confederacy of Dunces. I had more fun reading that book than any other I can recall. I'm wondering how you liked it.

Michael Dirda: I liked, am liking, it a lot. I had to put it aside to work on other things. The tone is just amazingly ingratiating.

Bethesda, MD: Upon your recommendation, I read the first two books of Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolf. I was left wondering whether I enjoyed it or not. His imaginary future is so bizarre and interesting, but the first-person narrative left me feeling quite confused about what was happening. I was longing for an extended aside, a la Hitchhiker's Guide, to explain some things that left me quite puzzled. Does that improve with repeated readings, or do I need to chug ahead into books 3 & 4?

Michael Dirda: No, things don't improve. Wolfe is an extremely allusive writer--a guy who doesn't explain anything, but prefers to plant clues, work by hints and indirection, not to say misdirection. He never tells you that the torturer's guild is based in abandoned space ships or who Severian's woman companion actually is. Part of the pleasure of reading Wolfe lies in puzzling such matters out. The other pleasure is in his prose and the assurance of being in the hands of a master storyteller. There is now quite a body of literature about the interpretation of The Book of the New Sun.

Washington, D.C.: This is a follow-up to my question about Thomas Wolfe. Your comment that he is famous for overwriting reminded me of a story: Wolfe supposedly sent a manuscript to Max Perkins, the renowned editor of Wolfe and a number of other celebrated authors of that age, in a moving van. Perkins went over it, made some edits, and sent it back to Wolfe by taxi.

Michael Dirda: Didn't know that one. Thanks.

Washington, DC: Mike,

As a former teacher of English, I'm interested in whether you would take another teaching gig after your Florida experience? What do you find most difficult about teaching literature?

Michael Dirda: As it happens, UCF would like me to teach again in the spring--fly down once every two weeks for two days, something like that. I may do it.

What I find most difficult? Some days it all seems difficult. My classes like me and I like them, but I sometimes despair. If only I could work harder, make them love books as I do. But my real problem is selfish: I'm more interested in my own writing and work than I am in them.

DC: Mr. Dirda,

Any news on the release of a last novel by William Gaddis? Maybe I read it in one of your columns, but I thought I heard that he had finished one just before his death, it was to be called Agape, and was related somehow to JR. Also, relatedly, do you know if Nobel Prizes can be awarded only to living authors? Not that Gaddis or Elkin will ever win, but in mind of your comment last week that Elkin, and I suspect Gaddis, will be lost, that'd be one way to remind people of their work.

Michael Dirda: Only living writers for the Nobel. I had heard there was an incomplete manuscript--we talked about this a couple of weeks back--but being down here I'm away from a lot of publishing gossip.

Bethesda, Maryland: Do you believe that every book -even ones written for humor only- have to be "novels" with a plot, or do you think one has a chance for success writing a series of essays? I wrote column for a small paper on Long Island, Dan's Papers, called 'Single, Female, Thirty-One Plus" and I was encouraged to make it into a book. But I took it to a book doctor and he said it must have a traditional plot or it would never be accepted. -unless I was already famous.-

Michael Dirda: Certainly books come in all shapes and forms, but publishers don't always think imaginatively. Still, collections of columns and essays are hard to sell. A very good agent peddled the idea of a selection from my Readings columns around New York, but nobody was that interested. If I were to write a book on a single subject, sure, in a flash. As it is, my columns are supposed to come out from a university press, if I finish cleaning them up and the publisher doesn't lose interest.

Washington, DC: Dear Mr. Dirda,

I was wondering what you think of The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell?

On a related note, I'm also a fan of stories-essays involving animals-nature. Lawrence's brother, Gerald Durrell, is a master of the form; more recently, I read a wonderful collection of essays, Natural Acts, by David Quammen. Could you recommend other works along the same lines?

Finally, thanks for your wonderful essays - you have given me much pleasure!

Michael Dirda: My friend Steve Moore--an authority on William Gaddis and modern literature in general--believes the quartet a major books, currently undervalued and somewhat neglected.
Do you know the essays of Loren Eiseley? Quite wonderful. Start with The Night Country or The Immense Journey. Melancholy, evocative prose.

Chevy Chase, MD: My friends and I were English majors in college. We love piecing together interpretations of literature; beautiful language; writing; thinking creatively. Since we've graduated, we've really had a hard time finding ways to apply those English major-y skills & mental activities in the professional realm. We're young so we're not in positions where people are asking us to think to our potential; our ideas aren't valued. Should we just be patient or are there industries-organizations where we might be more able to thrive?

Michael Dirda: I don't quite follow this question. If you're a good writer, you might look for jobs in industries that produce texts--public relations, advertising, journalism, etc. But an English major is a liberally educated person and you should be able to do anything. Since you're young, I'd look deep into your heart and try to see what you'd love to be doing, then start trying to realize that goal. Does all this sound too sententious and obvious?

Madison, WI: The novels of Benito Perez Galdos have been said to be better than those of Dickens or Balzac. Do you have an opinion about this?

Michael Dirda: I won Fortunata and Jacinto and three or four other books by Perez Galdos, but haven't yet read them. V.S. Pritchett has a good essay on him--look for VSP's Collected Essays in one very fat volume--and he made him sound wonderful to me. Alas, Perez Galdos awaits his day with me. My loss, I'm sure.

Mt .Rainier: I know you're an aficionado of children's books. Do you think the Rowling series of Sorceror books stack up well to the great children's lit?

Michael Dirda: I think the Potter novels are well-written, swift-moving entertainments, but I don't think them masterpieces of children's literature, at least not in the class of, say, Tom's Midnight Garden, The Mouse and His Child, The Hobbit, The Owl Service, or the works of E. Nesbit.

Fairfax: What is the significance of Colette's short story "Cheri"? On your recommendation, I read it recently and didn't get much out of it. The story seemed to be not much more than about an older woman with a young male lover who break up, get back together again after he foolishly marries someone younger, and then travel to Tunisia.

What did I miss?

Michael Dirda: It is, admittedly, an oblique work in some ways. But it evokes the passage of time, the sorrows of the flesh (particularly aging flesh), the joys of physical love, the inequities of life, the ways we lie to each other, the way hope springs up and is then extinguished, the way the world changes and leaves us behind, bereft of those things we valued most.

Washington, DC: Michael, You've read Confederacy of Dunces before, right? I can't remember anything funnier since reading it 15 years ago but I'm not a prolific reader. Any suggestions?

Borges said 'the intruder' was a favorite so I feel cheated not seeing it in the supposed unabridged fictions that's been selling well.

Could he possibly meant 'the interloper'?

Michael Dirda: The new translations in the Collected Fiction sometimes alter the old titles (not always advantageously): I suspect The Intruder is now The Interloper. I reviewed the new book, but can't remember if that is one of the stories with new titles.

Funnier? Augustus Carp, Esq, by himself--hard to find, but it was in Penguin--a satire of religious hypocrisy.

Much of Wodehouse. Waugh's Decline and Fall. Look at Terry Pratchett too, and David Lodge's academic satire, Small World. E.F. Benson's Lucia books (in a quieter vein).

Arlington, VA: Not a criticism, just a gentle suggestion: If you're more interested in your own pursuits than your students, maybe you shouldn't plan to teach again next semester.

Michael Dirda: My own thoughts precisely.

Chevy Chase, MD: Mr. Dirda,

What is the WORST book you have ever read, and why?

Michael Dirda: Judith Krantz's Dazzle. I ended with this flourish: Sometimes critics lament that good trees were felled to produce a certain book; in the case of Judith Krantz's Dazzle I even feel bad for the ink and the glue.

Washington, DC: I'm hearing a lot about Ayn Rand these days. Not having read any of her, I'd be interested in your take on her. Does her writing still hold up and-or is it worth reading today?

Michael Dirda: If you read Atlas Shrugged as a teenager, Rand is irresistible. A wonderful melodramatic imagination. But her ideas are quite repulsive--the world she imagines is filled only with geniuses and peons. If you're an ordinary man or woman, you'll be left in the dark, while the train speeds away into the night--as happens to one character in Atlas.

Crystal City: Some months ago I asked what Gene Wolfe was up to. His new novel, On Blue's Waters, has just been published. It begins a new series, The Book of The Short Sun. I know The Book of the New Sun is a classic, but what about the second series, Book of the Long Sun? Is it worth reading?

Michael Dirda: Never read the second series. Meant to. no time. My sense is that it is less exciting and more abstract than the New Sun, but I might be dead wrong.

Hampton, Virginia: Can you provide the most popular authors of children mysteries - for teenagers.

Michael Dirda: Old standbys are The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew--but these would be for very young teens. Robert Newman writes fairly good mysteries for young people, but again these are for 13 year olds. Personally, I'd send older teens directly to Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown and a good general collection, such as Sayers's classic Omnibus of Crime (also contains ghost stories, with two sequel volumes).

Well, that's the time for this week. Until next Wednesday at 2, keep reading.

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