Just posting a collection of links. Beginning reading Martha Quest. I forgot how fabulous Doris Lessing is. I'm actually quite excited about this reading. I think Praise is a bit ahead of me right now.
Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. Here is the interview conducted by John Mullan.
Here is her bio on the Nobel site.
Here is her bio on wikipedia.
A clip from an interview with Lessing translator, Krista Kaer.
I'm struck by Lessing's presence as an author. She really does belong to a liminal community of writers caught between the late 19thC and the late 20thC, early 21st. She willfully and gleefully, if I can say so, shrugs off the confines of polite society and intellectual clothing that wraps much of modern European prose. What appears at first traditional slowly becomes radical, diatactical rather than dialectical perhaps? I'm thinking of Hayden White's Tropics of Discourse. However, she is disciplined and intellectual, a true master of the craft of the novel unlike much of contemporary fiction, especially in the United States. The post 60s novel can be a rather anti-intellectual affair that poses as a radical representation of identity and consciousness. Writers are much more in tune to the market, even the writer-critics, teacher-writers, writer-artists, of which the last is the current vogue, are keen observers of the small press market and, in my opinion, much too interested in their noteriety and reception than they are in cultivating their craft and discourse community. In fact, there is no discernible writing community among fiction writers. There are many writers' groups, which like group therapy are about acceptance more than craft. I digress.
I just reached the point in the Nobel Prize interview where Mullan asks Lessing about Harold Bloom's critique that her prose was "an attack on the male sex." HA! Harold Bloom. What a fart!
Here is her reaction to being stalked by the British press after winning the Nobel Prize.
Lessing always expresses that her writing represents a kind of realism. For example, when answering criticism about how men are represented in her work, she responds that it's the "strictest realism." No apologies for her manner of observing everyday life. It is real. Very encouraging. It's not literature serving a social or political cause, in fact and for example Lessing says that being labeled a feminist author never did her any good. It's her prose and in that manner it is real. The personal is political. In other words, she is not carrying water for anyone. I like that. A lot.
"The novel is not where the passion is situated." Lessing criticizes the place of the novel. Well, she was correct. Is correct. The novel is currently the domain of the amateur and talented novelists are not promoted for their intellectualism. They are quite often shunned for it. Difficult books are a bad thing. And this is not only a problem in the more traditionally artistic circles, this extends to the genre market. I don't know what to make of this. Although it's safe to say that the market needs a resurgence of patronage. Authors need to get back in the habit of cultivating scenes that are picky and exclusive. We need to cultivate our literature. Some people do not write well. Look at the number of writing programs in the US. It's no surprise that much of the work being published is crap. MFA programs are as much about introducing writers to people who can get you published as they are about workshops. Unfortunately, they are less about developing a rigorous attention to the detail of working on theory and craft. In fact, I have yet to meet more than a few students from MFA writing programs that know anything about theory or care to learn. They are looking for opportunities to publish. What do we expect?
The novel should not be permitted to become the form for the amateur. We need patrons. It's incredibly difficult to work fulltime and write fulltime. That's the practical matter of fact. What's most lacking is a group of people to speak to about my work. I'm speaking form personal experience here. I take this rather seriously.
In the background, over Lessing's left shoulder, is a yellow box of Go Cat cat food. Wonderfully herself. Unprepared. Honest.
From Lessing's essay on journalism:
The fact is, with journalists as with every profession, only a minority are any good.. Most repeat what others say. This process can be observed in all kinds of context. An exciting bit of music is used to introduce a hundred programmes on television: or an opinion, a catchphrase, taken up, and used to death. (January 1990)
Here is a link to a fansite that is a good retrospective of her work, with many links.
Showing posts with label dagseoul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dagseoul. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Alain de Botton. Essays in Love. 1993.
Praise and I will be using this blog to post about the books we are reading together. We'll first read Alain de Botton's 1993 novel, Essays in Love. I have wanted to read this for a while. I am particularly interested in the author's attempt at what I have often called creative philosophy. For better or worse--and he has his share of lovers and haters--de Botton purposefully combines theory and fiction in his narratives.
This novel is my choice for our first read. Praise will pick our second book. Our rule about choosing books is simple: I must pick a book she hasn't read; she must pick a book I haven't read. That's it. No restrictions on genre. While we have a few strikingly similar tastes, we really do come at things, like reading, differently. So, there should be some fresh discussion on a DagZine blog for the first time in 3 years. I am very excited.
Essays in Love is a novel about two folks who rapidly fall in love after meeting on an airplane. It's how the author handles the description of this important event--the falling "in love"--that needs attention. De Botton receives his harshest criticism from the literati crowd which claims, if I may summarize, he turns complex philosophical topics into trite cliches. He receives his most passionate support from readers who find his work fascinating for its attempt to dwell in complex discussions about topics such as Love.
I am afraid that de Botton's best and worst criticism opens a worthless binary opposition for considering his work: Is it good or bad when a writer uses fiction to discuss complex issues usually left to a philosopher? That is a bad question. It begs so much and seeks a knee-jerk "Yes" or "No" answer. In the U.S., Fiction--the genre as well as its practitioners--is often regarded as anti-intellectual, and for good reason I suppose. English Departments worldwide are populated with lit-critters who do not read the philosophers they cite in essays and discussion; a lack of scholarly rigor in some departments is infamous and to make matters worse many people are in denial that a problem exists at all; teachers read their peers writing about other writers and cite it rather than reading complex works for themselves; the Cambridge Companion series is a replacement for actual contemporary research; anthologies are too common; Harold Bloom has become an expert in everything literary in the English language that is important; Terry Eagleton has become an expert in everything Marx & structural; ETC. I have heard some things in conferences that would make many quoted philosophers puke blood.
On the other hand, we might expand this issue slightly by stating English-speaking authors who write novels are often encouraged not to handle complex issues. It's a shame. It's a critical phenomenon I don't understand. It reminds me of the crazy insistence that we should leave philosophy to the philosophers. I would suggest, and I am hopeful that Praise agrees, such insistence is nonsense and harmful. Shouldn't we all make grand attempts? It appears de Botton is attempting to attempt.
Is de Botton's novel worthy of its subject matter? We'll see.
Below is a concise list of useful links about the author.
The British Council's Contemporary Writer's entry for Alain de Botton.
The Complete Review's collection of de Botton reviews (with some links to originating reviews.)
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