Dirda On Books Michael Dirda Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 14, 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. Though holding 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. Never afraid of self-criticism and in fact pretty good at it, Dirda once noted: "Do not imagine that I regard my taste for literary artifacts as anything but shameless and vulgar. I have sunk so low as to covet Edward Gorey coffee mugs. I yearn for a bust of Dante to place on a bookcase."

Arlington, Va.: What's your reaction to two of this year's Pulitzer Prize winners: Mark Strand in poetry for "Blizzard of One" and Michael Cunningham in fiction for "The Hours"? I know you're skeptical about prizes; I'm just wondering whether you've read either work.

Michael Dirda: Read some of the poems in the Strand, who is a poet I deeply admire and sometimes love. Haven't read The Hours. Guess I should, but I like to choose my own books and hate to feel constrained to read something just because it's an in book, whether because it won a prize or hit the best seller list.

Arlington, VA: Any insight on the indictment of the brothers Barthelme? I hate to ever see someone I admire indicted, but, thinking positively, if this got a little more coverage -I guess they've been close-mouthed- it might result in more people realizing how great Frederick's books are. Painted Desert, Bob the Gambler and his other books are unique, well-written and great reads. To me, it's great American fiction. Yet the masses continue to suck up stuff by Clancy, Grisham, etc....

Michael Dirda: Well, it's always disheartening when Real Writers get ignored and the same old best-sellers get the money, attention and readers. My great wish is that more people would simply read at whim--browse through the bookstores, scan the library shelves, open a book, read a few pages, then try it. What I try to do in my own reviews and essays is convey some of the enthusiasm I feel about a particular book or author: AFter that, it's up to the reader to decide whether it's the kind of work or writer he or she likes.

Springfield, PA: Hi!
I have really been enjoying this feature. I am in a book club w- friends. Most recently we have read Memoirs of a Geisha, Wicked-The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Anna Karenina,and Corelli's Mandolin. Presently we are reading Daughter of the Queen of Sheeba. Anyway we would like to pick a good love story next. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks

Michael Dirda: Of recent books: Possession, by A.S. Byatt. Among the classics: You might try Swann in Love--it's a novella length, almost independent section of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. It used to be available as a separate paperback and probably still is. Also, I'm very fond of Stendhal's The Red and the Black--there you get two great love affairs, as well as a classic young man from the provinces story.

Austin, MN: Via a review in The New Republic, Harold Bloom suggests that Shakespeare provides us a chance to read human nature and to be read by it. Do you feel that Shakespeare is, if properly read, timeless, or should we allow our current quandries to be enlightened by him?

Michael Dirda: Shakespeare, like his Cleopatra, offers "infinite variety." Certainly, a writer, even a classic--to stay vital--must appeal to contemporaries; hence Richard III set in a Nazi Germany like England and punkish Hamlets. I myself am one of those people who prefer to read the plays--I find actual productions fairly draining unless they're absolutely irresistible, like Peter Brooks's famous Midsummer Nights Dream. For me Shakespeare is language, and I go to him for the sheer gorgeousness of his diction. On the other hand, I first read Hamlet and Macbeth when I was about 14 and loved them because they were so like mystery and ghost stories.

Washington, D.C.: What classic American authors would you advise an adult who is waking up to the joy of reading a bit late in life -meaning: not too many years left!- to read? This adult's goal is to be just "generally well read" in classic American literature.

Michael Dirda: Here are a few classics: Emerson's essays, especially The American Scholar and Self Reliance; Thoreau's Walden; Melville's Moby-Dick; Whitman's Leaves of Grass; EMily Dickinson's peotry; Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn; Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby; FAulkner's Absalom, Absalom; Ellison's Invisible Man.

FAIRFAX, VA: I want to read War and Peace next, but i dont have that much time. what do you think about the abridged versions? Are they as original as the full versions?

Michael Dirda: Am against abridged versions, except when listened to as books on tape as a way to pass the highway miles. Better to get the whole text and skip around on your own. On the other hand, War and Peace is long but continually engrossing; I don't think you'll do all that much skimming (except when Tolstoy gets a little windily preachy about his various theories).

Washington, D.C.: Why do so many periodicals covering books -including BookWorld- seem to focus on non-fiction rather than fiction? I believe that as a result of this bias, many quality novels get ignored while nonfiction books that appeal to a small group of readers get reviewed.

Michael Dirda: Interesting question. Several answers: On a practical basis, nonfiction is easier to review--you find an authority and he tells people what's in the book. Fiction is hard to critique, since it requires a defter touch--you can't ruin the story, but you need to convey the character of the book--and you need to be able to place the book in the author's oeuvre etc. SEcond, people tend to read more nonfiction because they think it's practical--teaches you things--while fiction simply amuses you or enriches your life in more subtle ways. There is doubtless a lot of good fiction that goes undervalued, but, alas, readers tend to run in packs and it's hard to find many people who simply spent their evenings reading novels. Blame television, computers and videos--I do. I haven't been to the movies in 12 years. Personally, I think this would make me an ideal movie critic, if an opening ever occurred.

Arlington, VA: Have you read any of Lawrence Block's books? If so, can you give me your opinion? I'm not a mystery buff, but I'm considering starting to read him because of personal connections.

Michael Dirda: Yes, have read several of his Burglar books--light-hearted mysteries about a bookdealer named Bernie Rhodenbarr who moonlights as a thief. Block is, like Donald Westlake, Elmore Leonard, George V. Higgins, the late Ross Thomas, a consummate professional. Reading him is like sipping a favorite drink--refreshing, reliable and always a pleasure. He's not great literature, but he's fun. Many people prefer his darker mysteries about recovering alcoholic Matt Scudder. There's lots of Block fiction to choose from.

Wolfeboro, NH: One of my favorite books is Timothy Finley's Not Wanted on the Voyage. But when I try to describe it to someone, it eludes me. Have you read it? How would you describe it?

Michael Dirda: Didn't read that Findley. Did review Headhunter--a brilliantly, darkly horrific novel, with fantasy elements, with the Mister Kurtz of Heart of Darkness transported to a slightly future Toronto. Hard to find in this country, but chilling.

Washington, DC: Here's more evidence of why we desperately need the independent bookstores to survive. Recently, you recommended Richard Ellman's biography of James Joyce, saying it was reputedly the greatest literary biography of the century -or something like that-. Well, I looked for it at the local megabookstores and online retailers and could not find it -apparently it, like too many other great books, is out of print-. Today I found it at Olsson's. It seems that Olsson's will keep a great book on its shelves longer -by a few years?- than the megastores will.

I'm moving to Philadelphia soon -after 19 years in DC- and I will miss Olsson's -and Book World -- but thanks for making it, and the rest of the Post, available on the Web so that expats like me can continue enjoying it from afar-.

Michael Dirda: I am astonished that the Ellmann bio was hard to find. Any bookstore worth its salt should stock it. No wonder the world is going to hell. Good luck in Philadelphia.

Silver Spring, Maryland: Michael-- Two questions for you: 1- I enjoyed your review of Tarzan Forever. I grew up on Burroughs, and have even revisited his works as an adult - they held up surprisingly well. But I found Tarzan Forever a bit askew - a good bio but way off when it strayed into literary criticism. Too heavy on the racism-eugenics charge so often levelled against Burroughs. Any thoughts? And 2- I collect books, and have gotten fairly proficient at minor repairs. I want to graduate to bigger repairs, like replacing endpapers. Any suggestions on where I might start? A book? A person? A class? Thanks!
Tom Stock

Michael Dirda: Well, I presented Taliaferro's fairly soft-pedaled charges against Burroughs, but as I said was afraid to revisit the books--I loved them so as a boy. There really isn't much literary criticism in the bio, since it focuses pretty much on Burroughs' life and writing career. I would be leery about doing any but minor book repairs on a valuable book. There are courses at the Smithsonian on bookbinding and you could call the Library of Congress' REstoration Lab. Years ago, I wrote a little paperback for the Book of the Month Club called Caring for Your Books. It was a free divident and may still be available.

Alexandria, VA: I remember George Orwell wrote an essay where he described a book reviewer sitting up all night reading book after book, getting crabbier and crabbier, and then writing his reviews in the morning. Is reviewing really like that?

Michael Dirda: Sometimes. Most reviewers are pretty conscientious, don't do the job professionally, and spend a lot of time writing an informative, entertaining piece. Professional reviewers have to read all the time, but tend to be either rise above any crabbiness or use it as part of their persona. I myself still love to read--and even love to write, especially here at the Post in the evening when Book World is quiet and I can escape my family and just try to write the best essays and reviews I can. Of course, I always write them in one evening--I start around 6 and know that by midnight when the last subway runs to Silver Spring, I will finished my weekly piece.

Washington, DC: I always have trouble not finishing a book if I've already dedicated time to it, even when it's boring or badly written, and especially if it's something others have liked. Do you finish every book you start? If not, what are some "good" books you just couldn't get into and finish? Why?

Michael Dirda: With few exceptions, I do finish the books I start. But most people should just give up on a book if it hasn't worked some kind of magic on you by page 30 or so. If it's a known classic, you might try it again in a few year. When I was 14 I tried to read Pride and Prejudice and found it boring; I tried it again as an adult and loved it. If I had a daughter, she'd be named Elizabeth Bennett Dirda.

Fairfax, Va.: I once heard of a man who said that he could be serious about any woman who read and enjoyed Phillip Wylie's "Finley Wren." Have you read, or are you in any way acquainted with, this book? I haven't read it and so don't know what that man meant, but I am intrigued by his statement.

Michael Dirda: I'm intrigued too. Don't know the book. Wylie used to be a best seller in the fifties--Generation of Vipers was his best known novel. Let me know if you find out any more about FInley Wren. I like the idea of a guy using a book as an amorous litmus test.

Annapolis, MD: I am an admirer of John Fowles and am much distressed that he hasn't published recently. I know that he had a stroke a few years ago. Do you have more information regarding his illness and plans to publish in the future.

Michael Dirda: I don't think Fowles considers himself an active novelist any more. He did bring out a collection of his essays and reviews last year.

Washington, DC: On the topic of "classics" -- is there any hope that I'd like Moby-Dick any better now as an adult than I did in high school? I guess the question is, is high school too young to appreciate it?
Thanks

Michael Dirda: Any time you have to read a book it's going to be hard to really like it. I love Moby Dick--There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes the whole universe to be but a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns and more than suspects is at nobody's expense but his own." Lots of lines from it stay in the memory. And it's a classic for good reasons. Try it again.

washington, Dc: Do you read in complete silence, or do you listen to music? If so what?

Michael Dirda: I'd love to read in complete silence, but I gnereally read to the sound of children complaining and whining. Sometimes I go out to a fast-food restaurant at night; I love to read against the random noise of such places. But if the music is too loud, I get annoyed. I wrote half my dissertation in a mcDonald's in Ithaca New York.

Arlington, VA: Surely everyone agrees that there is no ONE "most thrilling" line in popular literature, but if there was, one would have to give equal weight to "Reader, I married him" and "As for myself, I am simply Hop-Frog, the jester - and this is my last jest." Each is thrilling in its own right.

As far as closing lines, we can submit "And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past," or the end of "From Russia With Love," where the reader watches James Bond collapse and die. -I don't have it in front of me to quote the last paragraph, but it's pretty spectacular.-

Michael Dirda: Great lines all. My lede for the Tarzan book--in which I pointed to "Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound" as the greatest sentence in popular literature was partly true and partly tongue in cheek. Ah yes, in the novel Rosa Klebb got Bond with her poisoned shoe blade. Then Fleming had to finesse the whole business when he decided to continue with Bon. In the movie, he defeats her.

Shaker Heights, Ohio: Mr. Dirda: When asked by someone what books you would bring along if you were shipped off to an island for the rest of your life, the "correct" response is usually the Bible. Shakespeare, etc. -Anyone who has actually tried to read Shakespeare on the beach, however, would recognize the folly of such a choice.- Let's make the question a bit tougher. If the guardians of our imaginary island limited you to three books written in the last ten years, which ones would they be and why? Thanks.
M. Hacala

Michael Dirda: Tough question. I'd probably take the classic choices: thelatest edition of the Boy Scouts Manual; a good guide to boat-building; and a naviagational primer. When asked this question, Bernard Shaw chose blank notebooks. In truth I can't imagine rereading for the rest of my life any books from the past 10 years.

fairfax, virginia: what is the book you are reading at the moment?

Michael Dirda: Vikram SEth's new novel, An Equal Music.

Washington, DC: As a semi-regular reader of the "New Yorker" and "Atlantic" over the past few years, I find myself wondering why all their short stories are pretty much the same. Maybe it's just me, but they always seem to be sparsely plotted tales of domestic angst. Is this all we can expect out of short story writers these days?

Michael Dirda: Your observation about the short story, as published in those two magazines, might have been made at almost any time in the past 50 years. In truth, I suspect there's more variety than you realize. Try some of the genre writers, look into more experimental magazines. You can't expect to find the radically new or imaginative in the popular slicks.

Andre Bernard, New York: For years Indian writers like Anita Desai and R.K. Narayan were published quietly in this country and found only a very small audience. Now Indian writing seems to be hot, with Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy and many others suddenly popular. To what would you attribute this new interest in Indian writing? And whom among these do you personally like to read?

Michael Dirda: Salman Rushdie has clearly been the spearhead here--setting a few aside (including The Satanic Verses, I think) his novels are gripping, beautifully written, funny, exciting. There's also more openness by serious readers to books from other cultures. Notice how many non-Brits win the Booker Prize. Malraux once imagined an art museum without walls, asserting that we live at a time when people can enjoy abstract art and African sculpture and CHinese bronzes and REmbrandt. In the same way, the world has now become a library or bookstore without walls. We no longer just read American writers--we read Umberto Eco and Banana Yoshimoto, Ben Okri and Garcia Marquez, Milan Kundera and Ohran Pamuk.

Bethesda, MD: Mr. Dirda

To your knowledge, has there ever been an English translation of Von Doderer's Die Strudlhofstiege? Do you have a favorite Eliot poem? Has anyone drawn analogies between Gravity's Rainbow rocket-phallic imagery and the Kosovo crisis-Lewinsky matter?

Michael Dirda: There is a translation of one long Von Doderere novel--it shows up in second-hand bookshops and it's ENglish title is on the tip of myh tongue. Don't know if its a translation of STrudlhofstiege. I like almost all of T.S. Eliot. At Easter I listend to Ted Hughes read Four Quartets twice on an audiotape while driving to visit my mother in Ohio. I guess I'd pick The Waste Land if I had to choose, but I own the collected poems in several editions, so I don't. Haven't noticed anything about Pynchon etc.

Arlington: Amorous litmus tests usually work - if a woman enjoys "Hills Like White Elephants" or Fitzgerald's pre-Gatsby short fiction, she's usually my type. ...

In your opinion, what is the best 20th Century short fiction about love? Short stories, novels shorter than Farewell to Arms, etc.

Michael Dirda: I'd probably turn to Chekhov, heartrbeaking wonderful stories about love. Are there any better kind?
Well, time's up: Sorry if I didn't get to your question this week. Try me next Wednesday at 2. Keep reading!