Dirda on Books – Transcript Michael Dirda Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 28, 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! Before we begin this week's discussion, I wanted to alert readers? viewers? participants? that I'll be on vacation next week and far from internet access. So don't look for me during the first week in August. I'll be back online the following week (Wed, Aug. 11), broadcasting--as they used to say--from Orlando, Florida, where I will be spending the fall semester teaching at the University of Central Florida. More on this as matters develop. In the meanwhile, on with the show....

Washington,DC: Mr Dirda, Getting expert comments is a privilege that will quickly reach it's limits, alas..
I Started writing a children's book, based on a childhood fantasy, out of pleasure,boredom... Out of all the book markets I would assume the under 9 crowd would be easiest to crack. Is this market controlled by a small group of players -not invented here syndrome as in toy industry- that churn out formula books? Is it tougher than I imagine?

Michael Dirda: I don't know that any market is easier than any other to crack: If you write a good book, someobdy will publish it. Certainly, there are celebrated editors, writers and artists who have worked together in kids books for years, but that doesn't make them a private club. You might want to talk to the members of the Children's Book GUild of Washington for advice about your book. good luck.

Mackinac Island, Michigan: I enjoyed your column on fitness in last Sunday’s Post. But I was disappointed that you didn’t recommend the books, tapes, etc., that helped you most. Would you now? Many of us who spend too much time on our butt reading – and eating -- want to mirror your achievement!

Michael Dirda: I read most of these fitness books and magazines for content, and don't have a single one in particular to recommend. I looked into everything, simply to find out what kind of foods I should be eating, what sorts of exercise would help me lose weight and get stronger, etc. I also talked with people at the YMCA and took an exercise class there. For the most part, my motto for several months was Stay Hungry. In retrospect, I probably lost weight too fast and should have begun weight training earlier. I don't really like the slightly gaunt/heroin-chic/male model look to my cheeks and hope that they they will fill out when I gain back seven or eight pounds more as muscle. . . But it feel nice to be skinny.

Washington, DC: Thank you in the past for your assistance - I think you can help again. I attended a writer's conference at the beginning of May and developed a comfortable rapport with a NY-based agent of a large and well known agency -and several other writers and an editor at HarperCollins!!-. I sent her a follow-up card -Thanks for your patience, look forward to seeing you again, etc.- and after severing ties with my previous agent -who hadn't done a thing-, I queried the new agent and she was delighted with my story. I sent the manuscript for receipt the weekend of May 31st. Here's the deal: My previous agent -one agent shop- called and asked me to sign a contract within four weeks. In this instance, Mr. Dirda, what could be taking so long? Would she have to get some kind of permission to take me on? Or because I told her I was not doing simultaneous submissions could she be shopping the manuscript without a signed contract?

Michael Dirda: I don't quite understand your reference to the "previous" agent--it sounds like you're talking about the current one. I'd be straightforward, whatever the case: Just call your new agent, and ask her what's what.

Bethesda, MD: On your recommendation in an earlier week's chat, I read Lawrence Norfolk's "Lempriere's Dictionary" and found it very engaging. The extent of the classical and historical references can overwhelm at times, but the prose is mellifluous and really does captivate for pages on end. Have you read Norfolk's second novel, "The Pope's Rhinoceros," and if so do you commend it as well?

Michael Dirda: Haven't read the second book, but it's supposed to be top-drawer, as they say in England. Did you read the American or ENglish edition of Lempriere's Dictionary? In the American, they left out a lot of the fantasy elements and made certain aspects of the novel quite confusing. All in all, the American edition is a sixth shorter than the British.

Arlington, VA: MD,

What are your impressions of Hilary Mantel? I've only had the chance to read "Eight Months on Ghazzah Street" and "Fludd," which left me scouring used book stores for more of her work -so far without success-. I know the Brit Lit crowd has been fretting as of late about the absence of home-grown talent. How well is her work regarded across the pond.

Love your work.

Michael Dirda: My impressions of Mantel match yours, but I've never read any of her books. I think she's married to the biographer Richard Holmes (Coleridge, Shelley). . . No, on second thought, he's married to Rose Tremain (Restoration). Oh well. Both Tremain and Mantel are highly regarded.

Jessup, MD: Can you recommend any good "philosophical" novels, novels that more or less explicitly deal with a metaphysical or ethical question but also retain a high asthetic level? I'm thinking along the lines of "The Stranger" or "The Brothers Karamazov" or even "Sophie's World," which I rather enjoyed.

Michael Dirda: You can hardly go wrong with German and Austrian novelists--Thomas Mann (The Magic Mountain), Thomas Bernhard (Correction), Gunter Grass, etc. In Britain, you'd want to pick up Iris Murdoch--try The Black Prince or A Severed Head (short). Proust is filled with philosophizing. Oops, just got interrupted by a colleague. How about Saul Bellow? Herzog. There's a start.

Rockville, MD: My soon-to-be ninth grader was given a summer reading list that included the book "Dancing with Wolves". When we purchased the book, we found that it was the screenplay for the movie. Try as we might, we can't find anything but screenplays or movie adaptations. I am appalled to think that this is considered worthy summer reading material. Montgomery County may as well have required her to view the movie. Any thoughts on this or am I overeacting? I understand the Native American tie in, but I can't believe reading what amounts to a script is worthy of her time when so many true classics await.

Michael Dirda: Are you sure there wasn't a novel as well as a screen play of Wolves? In general, I think schools should require kids to read traditional classics and encourage them to read whatever for their optional book reports. SChools try to do their best, but I think they're hampered by all the societal pressures put on them today. If your child is reading fluff, then you should encourage him or her to try something more serious on his/her own. On the other hand, quantity rather than quality should be the focus of reading during early adolescence. Go to the library and load up on books.

Fairfax, Virginia: When you’re reading, do you stop to look up unfamiliar words, or do you write them down to look up later? I had to do the latter a lot recently with all the nautical terms in “Mr. Midshipman Hornblower” -- a thumping good read, incidentally. Now I know LOADS about sailing.

Michael Dirda: I seldom look up unfamiliar words, partly because I don't run across that many. As a kid, I never developed the dictionary habit and believed in learning words through context. But I do like to read about etymology and usage, so have picked up some arcane vocabulary as a result. In the case of sailing jargon--I read Patrick O'Brian--I do occasionally check on a word if it occurs more than once.

Silver Spring, MD: Friends and I have been talking about what encourages boys to be readers. I remember the piece you wrote about your eighth grade English teacher who got you turned on to reading. What do you think may turn other boys onto reading? Subject material? Role models? The power of narrative?

Michael Dirda: Luck. I have three sons and each is a different sort of reader, none being as passionate as their father. In general, I recommend surrounding your son with books, comics, magazines and audiotapes--anything that might instill a love for narrative or writing. Does your boy see you reading? You should talk about books, read them aloud at bedtime to your child, etc., make clear that they are an important aspect of life. BEyond that, you can only hope for the best.

Kensington, MD: If you continue to lose weight, how will your body be able to support your ego?

Michael Dirda: According to Freud, we all have egos. Perhaps you were referring to my gigantic brain and wondering how it could be supported on so slender a frame? At any event, I've never thought I was more egotistical than the next person, but then I could be dead wrong about this.

Crystal City, Virginia: Mr. Dirda, I have been considering reading the work of Anthony Trollope for several years, but have always been daunted by lack of knowledge about the different series he wrote -Barchester Towers and one other I can't remember-. Do you know of a place where I could find more information on his work? Would you recommend it as worthwhile?

Michael Dirda: Trollope is a wonderful novelist. Most people begin with The Warden or Barchester Towares. The Palliser series is perhaps even more highly regarded these days--I've always loved the title: CAn you Forgive Her? I'm particularly fond of his late novel, with an equally fine title: The Way WE Live Now. It is somewhat atypical however. There are at least five good biographies of AT, and many guides to his work.

Columbia, SC: I read your column on fitness two mohths into my own fitness regimen. You might have been writing about me. Another coincidence, I stumble on books in my crammed apartment, but have not found a way to stop buying some more. Now, the difference. While you write about the books you read I need the discipline to write. Please, tell me how you do it. What suggestions have you on writing about what you read?

Michael Dirda: It helps to have a deadline. I need to write every week, so can't wait for inspiration or plan to spend a month doing research on a topic. Perhaps you might keep a journal--noting your reactions to the books you read, allowing brief notes to expand into mini-essays. Eventually, you might try to write an essay for a magazine or journal you admire--or try book reviewing for a local paper.

Washington, DC: I find that as I get older I'm less frequently bowled over by books I read for the first time. When I first read Grapes of Wrath in h.s. or 100 years of Solitude, I was absolutely enchanted and they remain two of my favorites of all time. I can't remember being affected that much by a book in years. Do you think I'm choosing inferior reading, or do we become cynical and harder to impress as we get older?

Michael Dirda: Good question. I think that books affect us most powerfully when we are young, when they offer to our wondering eyes a glimpse of the future, of the world we will one day enter as adults. By the time we're grown-ups ourselves, we've read so many books that it takes something truly outstanding to reignite that sense of the magical and special. But one can still find such books--In graduate school I discovered Norse sagas, for instance, and they just bowled me over. As we grow older, many of us find that we want to reread books rather than discover new ones, that the classics speak to us in ways that contemporaries can't. But one needs to keep trying to find new writers, if only to help keep literature alive in our time.

Houston, TX: About turning kids onto reading...granted I'm female but I know male bookworms who've done similar: my dad would read to me until I began reading, then we would take turns reading pages. If reading is an achievement for a young child, not just something to do, they seem to embrace it more.

Michael Dirda: Good point.

washington, dc: My book club is always looking for good books to read. Do you have any suggestions? Our only requirement is that it not be an "Oprah book club" book.
Thanks!

Michael Dirda: Keep an eye out for the new Washington Post Book World Book Club--the first six books will be announced shortly, and you might want to consdier adopting them for your own reading circle.

Silver Spring, MD: So does that mean you won't be working out at the Silver Spring Y this fall?
Too bad! We've gotten used to you. Oh, and have you ever written a novel yourself? A short story? If so, how does what you do weekly compare to wrting fiction?

Michael Dirda: Won't be at the Y this fall. WRote half a novel yeears ago, and maybe 20 short stories. DIdn't think any of them very good. Perfectly readable, but nothing exceptional. But the experience showed me how hard it is to write even a so-so piece of fiction. Develops sympathy and insight. For good or ill, I've taught myself to write reviews and essays that I like and that many people seem to like too.

Silver Spring, MD: As both a bibliophile and electronics maven I suffered a personal crisis with the advent of the electronic book. Setting aside my aesthetic values, I recently purchased a Rocket eBook. I use it to read classic works in the public domain downloaded off the web. While it's advantages include its capacity to store dozens of works at one time, at $300 it's still a steep alternative to paperback classics picked up at a used bookstore. My question to you is, what is the future of traditional books?

Michael Dirda: Got me. I suspect that we are entering the era of modern incunables--that period when handwritten manuscripts co-existed with Gutenberg printed books. For the next 30 or 40 years we will probably have books and e-books, but gradually the latter will turn the former into antiques and collector's items. I hope I'm wrong.

Washington, D.C.: The late Clifton Fadiman, author of the classic “Lifetime Reading Plan,” supposedly read about 25,000 books before he died at age 95. How many books do you think you have read so far? And how many do you want to have read by the time you’re Fadiman’s age?

Michael Dirda: I have no idea how many books I've read, and don't see how one could easily calculate such a figure. It's not how many books you get through that matters, as how many get through you. You could read the Bible and Shakespeare and be wiser than any bookworm. I like to read, and it's my job, but I don't think reading is the be-all and end-all of life. Listening to music, falling in love, raising a family, looking at pictures, playing sports, etc.--all these are of similar importance.

Washington, DC: Nice comeback for the ego question!!

Michael Dirda: THanks.

Arlington, VA: What do you think of Arturo Perez-Reverte, the Spanish author. It stirkes me that his books would interest you.

Michael Dirda: I reviewed The Fencing Master a few weeks ago, and have read The Club Dumas. Liked them both, especially the latter, which deals with books and collecting. AM told The Flanders Panel is even better.

Reston, VA: I seem to recall that you once said that you don't often reread the books you've read. Jacques Barzun once remarked on the practice of rereading: "-The reader] must learn that you cannot step into the same river of thought twice, because neither you nor it is the same."
Do you find yourself doing any serious rereading these days, in particular, those tomes of your "lost youth"?

Michael Dirda: Now that I'm older, I look forward to rereading more and more books. Some books can only be appreciated after you know the plot and can examine their artistry with some calm. Others require a greater wisdom of the world to understand (Henry James is the classic instance). Oscar WIlde once remarked that if a book isn't worth reading again and again it shouldn't be read at all.

Bethesda, MD: Michael,
I've taken on a New Year's resolution to read every William Shakespeare play in 1999 -before I knew he was so trendy again-. I am enjoying it very much, though a bit behind in my schedule. What credence do you put in the theories that the Bard didn't write all the works attributed to him? Are there any biographies of or books about Willy S. that you would recommend -besides the recent H. Bloom book, which I already plan on reading in 2000-?

Michael Dirda: I think Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. If I were you, I'd read the plays in individual editions--the New Ardens. the Oxford or the New CAmbridge. All these come with long introductions, myriad notes, and lots of useful information. Also it's fun to carry an individual play around rather than lug a huge tome. FAvorite books about Shakespeare include: S. Schoenbaum's Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life, and SHakespeare's LIves--a study of the biographical myths surrounding the playwright. Also, worth reading: ANthony Burgess's novel NOthing LIke the SUn. It's also fun to pick up audio tapes and hear the plays performed by rich plummy accents.

Rockville, MD: "All of these are of similar importance"...Blasphemy!!!

Michael Dirda: Blasphemy? How's that? You don't think that falling in love or listening to Mozart is as exhilarating, as intoxicating, as educational as reading a book? Perhaps your life is too narrow.

Mt. Rainier MD: Oh, so wrong on the e-books, I think! Books beat out manuscripts because cheaper, faster, could get to the 'mass' market of the time -yes, not so big, but not limited to monasteries & the obscenely rich-. They were more convenient than the scrolls and standardized print made them easier to read. The e-books are not cheaper or more available, and NOT easier to read - where is the advantage?

Michael Dirda: E-books will get better and cheaper and more convenient in the future. They aren't serious competition yet--but they will be. How can they not be?

Washington, D.C.: What is and what is the purpose of a "young adult" book? I have assumed that it is a book directed at people in their early teens, but is there more to it? I read "The Code of the Woosters" when I was ten and was hooked on Wodehouse forevoer; not, I believe, a young adult author. On the other hand, I recently started the Golden Compasses, which I think you have described as a young adult book and I found it pretty grim and sordid, at least at the beginning. In my own mind the best example of young adult books is a series written by Robert Heinlein in, I think, the fifties. What do you think?

Michael Dirda: Well, I love Wodehouse and The Golden Compass and nearly all of Heinlein's juveniles, especially Citizen of the Galaxy. A YA novel is mainly a marketing device, because all of the books you refer to are artful and fun to read. In some ways, I think kids should start reading adult books once they hit adolescence, but I can see that novels about teens like themselves will have an inherent appeal. Let a thousand flowers blossom!

Manchester, UK: I notice with some delight that you list Anthony Burgess - a man with whom I share a home city- as one of your favourite reviewers. I wondered how you feel he has been treated by the literary establishment- I think maybe now is time for his rehabilitation as a major figure in 20th century lit.

Michael Dirda: I think his two-part autobiography is arguably the best British autobiography of the century--rumbustious, funny and outrageous. He was an amazing writer--far too prolific, in some ways, but a genius in most others. Certainly, the early ENderby books, Nothing Like the Sun, A Death in Deptford, Clockwork Orange, Earthly Powers ("I was in bed with my catamite when the archbishop rang. . ." or somehting like that), and many others are wonderfully irresistible and endlessly rereadable.

Montreal, Quebec: Michael,

I discovered your on-line chat a couple weeks ago. It's great. One of the best things on the internet.

I was amused but also troubled by your Sunday piece on diet-books, exercise, etc. Can a serious person go twice a week to an abdominal exercise class? In any case,
you seem to be doing too much.
Moderation, Michael.

It's interesting to contrast your column to the one by Joyce Carol Oates in the, ahem, NY Times last week. The critic exhaustively organizes then executes. The writer runs to set her imagination free, to transport herself.

Have fun. Don't hurt yourself or believe everything you read in those exercise rags.

Michael Dirda: Thanks. My motto is the one from the library in the John Bellairs books: "BElieve Half of What You Read." I am a compulsive person, and was half-astonished myself to find myself in an exercise class twice a week. But it's been fun--even if I may have violated the rule of moderation.

Michael Dirda: WEll, that's it for this week, folks. Sorry if I didn't get to your question. Remember: Next week, I'll be away on vacation, but back on Wed.,August 11, from Orlando, at2 Pm. Until then, keep reading!