|
Immortals
Row one: Patrick White, John Hersey, Albert Camus, Maxwell Perkins, Somerset Maugham, Vladimir Nabokov, Herman Hess.
Row Two: Issac Asimov, Earnest Heminway, Truman Capote, Christopher Morley, Ayn Rand, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Frederick Manfred.
Row Three: John Barth, Chinua Achebe, Itzhak Bentov, John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut, Milan Kundera, Saul Bellow.
Row Four: Pat Conroy, Margaret Atwood, Andew Vachss, Tom Robbins, John Irving, Barbara Kingsolver, Katherine Dunn.
Row Five: Algis Budrys, Phillip Jose Farmer, Arthur C. Clark, Dick Francis, John D. MacDonald, Stephen King, Ann Rice.
Creating this website has allowed me to go back through my life to investigate not just the influences, but moments of tremendous joy and excitement. It always struck me as odd when classmates would groan over having to read a book for class. Opening a new book was ever the beginning of a new adventure. New people were waiting, new locales, a different period of time (past or future), and feeling this new vision of life unfurl inside my head was a unique sensation that continues to this day.
These authors in my head represent the tip of an intellectual and experiential iceberg (without glorifying my little pea-brain) that is not unique. The literary world is indeed like a great arctic sea, each of us bergs bobbing in a large, connected medium of water and salt, occasionally bumping into each other, or accidentally sinking someone else’s titanic impression of this author or that—but ultimately, all of us melt away, becoming part of that very medium that new icebergs will inhabit. As much as any of us write in our lives, it is the act of reading that precedes and initiates the desire to write. I would not care to eat at a restaurant where the chef had not started out in life savoring food. So it is with writing—and not just books. I had a friend once who was working hard on screenplays for Hollywood, and yet he had professed time and time again how much he hated movies.
Everyone who reads has a similar set of silent teachers. Some of the names are the same, very many are different, but we have all grown larger from ingesting and digesting the written words of others, some long gone and yet still present. Through the intelligence and generosity of these and so many other writers, my life has felt much larger than it really was. I have borrowed freely from their intellect, shared their wisdom liberally (trying to attribute when I remembered, but more often forgetting), and I believe they regularly forgive this oversight because in the world of literature there is a different currency at work than mere money, for knowledge is the only thing you can give away and still keep.
This human knowledge wrung from books is a magical money that supports an invisible economy, often called culture but really representing something much more enduring. This mystical water flows through an artesian that has fed (and continues to feed) a thousand cultures. In the end, each of us readers (whether a writer or other) represents a tilled field growing alternating crops of fiction and non-fiction, romance and textbook, adventure and philosophy. And we have our fallow periods. Try reading when there’s a newborn crying in your lap, or when trying to figure out why the checkbook won’t balance when the rent is due. They wait for us, these writers, these artesian artisans of the word, patient on our shelves, whispering endearments via seductive titles and the constant, subtle promise of adventure in every form.
On the Sentences page I admitted to being of shallow intellect. It’s true. I am not a deeply learned or educated man, except where these people have carved depth out of thin rock within me. It is to their credit that I know anything at all, and if I seem overly grateful, so be it. I can’t imagine having spent this time here on earth without their genial company.
Patrick White is the only Australian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. His novels include, The Tree of Man, Voss, Riders of the Chariot, and The Solid Mandala. I believe his most powerful is The Vivisector, which follows the complete life of an artist expressing both the humanity and inhumanity of art. It should be part of the curriculum of any art school.
Over the years I had a infrequent conversations with John Hersey who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for A Bell for Adano, and went on to write such well-known novels as Hiroshima, The Wall, and The Child Buyer. Less known, but my particular favorites are two novellas: My Petition for More Space and The Walnut Door. If there were such a thing as a perfect book, these two would fit the bill. Also, check out White Lotus.
Albert Camus died before finishing his last book, ironically entitled, A Happy Death. He won the Nobel Prize in 1957 for such works as The Stranger, The Fall, The Plague, and The Rebel.
Maxwell Perkins might be the greatest editor in American history. His authors included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, Marjorie Rawlings, and many others.
The Razor’s Edge and Cakes and Ale, both of which were entertainingly turned into films. (The Bill Murray version of Razor’s Edge is one of my all-time favorites).
Vladimir Nabokov is considered one of the most innovative and controversial authors of the twentieth century. While Lolita is best known by the general public, a reader can journey a long time through his writings. One of my favorites from earlier years is
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, which somehow spoke to the writer I eventually became (am becoming? will become?).
Hermann Hesse is the master when it comes to having bent my head around difficult ideas. While my enduring favorite is The Glass Bead Game. Siddhartha is one book I make sure I read every several years, just to be sure I can still hear what it has to say. If the time ever arrives when I realize I have one day left to live, I hope there’s a copy handy.
Issac Asimov has taught more people about the future... well, than there is people, and for a long time to come. I’m not sure there is a human alive who has read everything he wrote... which makes it hard to believe just how much he wrote... and at such a high level. He blew my childhood (and young adulthood) wide open... made me "starry eyed". (Sorry, couldn’t resist).
Ernest Hemingway faithfully reported life, especially in moments of danger and crisis. His observations were profound in their simplicity. I think that’s where the power comes from in his work, and it is a great reminder to find a situation of powerful (albeit at times subtle) conflict, and then just let it happen—moment by moment. His short stories are a brilliant introduction to a man whose work should never be read as an assignment.
Truman Capote awed the country with In Cold Blood, but his his shorter works, particular the collection, Music For Chameleons, are even more brilliant. (And if you ever get a chance to see the tape of the one man show, "Tru", don’t miss it!)
Christopher Morley
Christopher Morley was one of the most popular American writers in the early part of the twentieth century, but has been kind of lost in the shuffle. Unfortunate because he was not only wise, but his writing was eloquent and human. His love of books was best expressed with two small companion novels: Parnassus On Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop (a special combined edition). If you ever run across John Mistletoe, grab it. A more beautifully written book might not exist.
Ayn Rand always said what she thought, and wrote the same way. the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged were bestsellers, but I thought The Virtue of Selfishness
and We The Living were great reads as well.
I think children should be taught to read F. Scott Fitzgerald because then they would have a head start on the world of beauty. My favorite two paragraphs in the literary world are from A Diamond as Big as the Ritz :
THE MONTANA sunset lay between two mountains like a gigantic bruise from which dark arteries spread themselves over a poisoned sky. An immense distance under the sky crouched the village of Fish, minute, dismal, and forgotten. There were twelve men, so it was said, in the village of Fish, twelve somber and inexplicable souls who sucked a lean milk from the almost literally bare rock upon which a mysterious populatory force had begotten them. They had become a race apart, these twelve men of Fish, like some species developed by an early whim of nature, which on second thought had abandoned them to struggle and extermination.
Out of the blue-black bruise in the distance crept a long line of moving lights upon the desolation of the land, and the twelve men of Fish gathered like ghosts at the shanty depot to watch the passing of the seven o'clock train, the Transcontinental Express from Chicago. Six times or so a year the Transcontinental Express, through some inconceivable jurisdiction, stopped at the village of Fish, and when this occurred a figure or so would disembark, mount into a buggy that always appeared from out of the dusk, and drive off toward the bruised sunset. The observation of this pointless and preposterous phenomenon had become a sort of cult among the men of Fish. To observe, that was all; there remained in them none of the vital quality of illusion which would make them wonder or speculate, else a religion might have grown up around these mysterious visitations. But the men of Fish were beyond all religion--the barest and most savage tenets of even Christianity could gain no foothold on that barren rock--so there was no altar, no priest, no sacrifice; only each night at seven the silent concourse by the shanty depot, a congregation who lifted up a prayer of dim, anaemic wonder.
Frederick Manfred
was a distant friend. I encountered his trilogy, Wanderlust in 1971 and read all three books in one weekend. We first started talking via telephone several years later. His daughter
Freya Manfred is a author in her own right, and Fred, Jr. a teacher, carries on his father’s love of life. Many of Frederick’s books are hard to find, but they’re well worth the effort. Here are two that are currently available:
Conquering Horse, (especially recommended), and
King of Spades. Some day, when all his books are back in print, the literary world is going to be astonished at what it missed all these years.
In the first two books I read by John Barth I came to see that one writer can move easily from the distant past into the distant future—and maintain the humanity of his characters. The Sot-Weed Factor opens with one of the greatest character descriptions I have ever encountered, and
Giles Goat Boy might be one of the most wonderful literary romps ever written. Of course, if you want to know about real life, go get Floating Opera and the End of the Road .
I encountered Chinua Achebe’s trilogy: Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and The Arrow of God, when I was overseas. Later, when I studied Multicultural Communications in college, (man, was I a lousy student), I was delighted to find these books on the reading list. Chinua now lives in Upstate New York and I have enjoyed speaking with him several times.
Itzhak Bentov’s
Stalking the Wild Pendulum taught me things about the workings of the universe far beyond my ability to learn. He died in a tragic airplane crash in Chicago, and has been terribly missed by all who loved him.
I first read Poorhouse Fair by John Updike as a teenager, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Whether short stories, poems, or his novels, he never fails to entertain and instruct. If you write, go get
Bech —and live out your darkest fantasies. Then head for your favorite restaurant and order
Rabbit stew for dinner.
Kurt Vonnegut taught me amazement on the path to deeper thinking. There is always a terrible longing to come to know a writer, meet them and somehow pay them back for the great gifts they have given us. Start by reading his books which carry more magic, laughter and truth than I can describe. I particularly enjoyed listening to Galapagos, read by Alan Arkin, (who seems to have the proper sardonic tone for a Vonnegut tale.)
During the Cold War, Milan Kundera brought real people to Western eyes, showing not only what little difference there was between us (as people and in our art), but how desire is so specifically personal. To any writers I would suggest reading at least two of his novels: (The Joke, Laughable Loves, Life Is Elsewhere, The Farewell Party, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, or The Unbearable Lightness of Being before reading his great treatise on writing: The Art of the Novel.
Saul Bellow taught me how much effort it took to worry about one’s own life—and yet, there was never any desire to put down any of his books because his characters worm their way into your mind and refuse stubbornly to leave. My favorite book is Henderson the Rain King, which taught me more about being adult than any other book. There is a reason he was given the Nobel Prize, as he is practically a literary country all his own, well worth tramping about a bit.
If you haven’t read Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides, don’t even talk to me.
I short stint in Vancouver introduced me to a number of Canadian authors and poets, chief among them, Margaret Atwood, whose book Surfacing caught me off-guard with it’s simplicity and power. When I read The Handmaid’s Tale my admiration was complete. I had the opportunity to read several passages from the book during a Banned Book festival in Napa. This book should be taught in schools.
Andrew Vachss is a phenomenon. Blue Belle, part of the Burke series. The several times I have spoken with him, he has been much more affable than his picture might lead one to believe from the severity of his picture. Don’t be surprised if he wins one of the big awards later in his career.
What the hell do you say about Tom Robbins? Every one of his books is a good as the previous. Probably the greatest aspect of his writing is how he takes you to amazing depths, laughing the whole way. I’d love to see what they say about him in the Twenty-third Century.
I read John Irving’s The World According to Garp as an extra on the movie The Blues Brothers, (I was one of the seven thousand cop extras). I never thought I’d find a book I loved more, until I read
A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I finished on the way to a State Fair in Northern California. Scared the hell out of my friend who was driving when I broke into sobs.
If you’re going to be a writer, study Barbara Kingsolver. I don’t think there’s a writer alive (or maybe dead) who finishes off paragraphs and scenes better than she does. You can’t miss with either The Bean Trees or Animal Dreams.
For years I wanted to throw myself on Katherine Dunn’s doorstep and beg her to take me in and let me be a coffee table or something in the house. Geek Love left me stunned for days, (okay—years).
People heavily involved with Science Fiction literature know Algis Budrys. Here’s your chance to discover a new writer who’s been around a long time and whose books are far more than Science Fiction, more like human fiction. Check his books out at Vivisphere.
Phillip Jose Farmer might be the Shakespeare of Science Fiction, not just for his language (I know, Shakespeare was Shakespeare!), but for the sheer volume and quality of his work. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, which is book one of the River World Saga, is a great place to start.
One of the Mandarins of Science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke put us all in space, and occasionally forgot to bring us back. He is the master (though I don’t know if he drinks margaritas). The Light of Other Days involved one of the more provocative technologies to come along for a long time.
If you love either horses or mysteries, Dick Francis would be a must read... if you love them both... hie thee to any bookstore!
God, did I ever want to be Travis McGee! Call me shallow, hell, even call me late for dinner, but I love John D. MacDonald’s books.
I knew I had entered a whole different world (and way of thinking and writing), when I first read The Stand by Stephen King. There’s nothing I can say that add to his reputation. If you don’t know about him, you don’t know nuthin’. I will, however, (heh heh heh) suggest you read Wizard and Glass (Number 4 in the Dark Tower Series) for one of the greatest combinations of prose and plot I’ve encountered for years.
If I hadn’t already promised my body to Katherine Dunn’s doorstep, I’d be at Ann Rice’s house. Her books are especially wonderful on tape.
|
|
Accomplices in Literature
Accomplices in Literature
Top from left to right:
Terry Quinn-A Death in Brooklyn, Mad For NewYorkTown, The Great Bridge Conspiracy, and Bunny and Volodnya. Terry was one of my first friends when I came to live in New York. He is probably the most generous (both to writers and friends) person I have ever encountered. Of course, that might have something to do with Jane...
Fran Dorf- Saving Elijah, Reasonable Madness, and Flight. Fran is the most fearless writer (and maybe person) I’ve ever encountered. She has the kind of courage that wins awards—but don’t tell her I said that.
Donald Friedman- The Hand Before the Eye. Don’t miss this book, especially if you’ve ever been sued. Seriously, Don may only write three or four novels in his life, but my bet is they’ll all be great.
David Belden- Children of Arable, To Warm the Earth. God, I wish I could work as hard and well as David. Hell, I wish I had a British accent, too.
Karen Daniels- Dancing Suns and Mentor’s Lair. Reader quiz: What’s the difference between a zaddack and a zygote? Ask Karen, then duck.
Mart Baldwin- To Kill the Benefactor, Over the Edge, Drifting the River, and Busy Day in Loafer’s Glory. I’ve never understood how such a congenial guy could bump off so many people in such a small town. But Mart’s waters run deep, especially when he’s “drifting the river.” Ha!
Teal Hutton has helped to transform Vivisphere Publishing with her natural talent and keen editorial eye. Watch for a lot of exciting surprises in 2002.
Patrick Murphy- Drowning in Hot Water. Patrick is a hero, the fact that he can also write up a storm makes it just that much worse... and better.
Katherine Dieter-Mattie & Frank. Katherine is brilliant. If you haven’t read this book, don’t talk to me until you do.
Peter Lord Wolff is not just a great friend, he might be the most creative storyteller I know... (even after he’s stopped drinking!). The Silence in Heaven is his first book (and the first in an amazing trilogy) about the angels’ fall from heaven and their time on earth. (Ever wonder how vampires came to be?) He’s currently working on Book II, and if Edith would take the keys away from Tashum, we’d get to read it a lot sooner. If you ever meet him, ask about the house with all the ghosts. Heh heh heh.
Stanley Cohen- Taking Gary Feldman, Angel Face, 330 Park, and The Diane Game. Don’t ask Stanley about hitch hiking—it’s such a long story.
Jeff Schneider- The Fix. If Jeff had a jumpshot, he might not have written this book. The NBA’s loss is our gain.
Margaret Doner- Infinite Darkness Infinite Light and The Wellness Center’s Spa at Home. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather share a past life with. Except maybe someone who could teach me grammar.
Richard Harteis- Marathon, Provence, and Sapphire Dawn. Richard can do it all... and regularly does. (I couldn’t resist.)
George O'Har-Psychic Fair. George knows too much about me for me to be cute. But if you’re considering using a Ouija board, you might want to consult him first.
Jeanne Marie Antoinette- Circle of Tears. Want to know the truth? And not just about Elian Gonzalez—anything—Jeanne knows more than she’ll ever tell.
Rennie Browne- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. A brilliant girl in an editor’s body. Renni’s the only person I know who had the “E” from the end of her first name travel to the end of her last name. If you’re writing a book, you better read this book. Hell, read it even if you’re just writing a letter.
Kevin Robinson- Mall Rats, Split Seconds, and A Matter of Perspective. Kevin is the hottest artist on two wheels. He writes great books, he plays and composes amazing music. And he’s nice. It sucks knowing all these talented people.
If you’re ever lucky enough to meet Mary Fitzgerald, ask her this simple question: “What would the Buddha do?”
Michael Porel- Tender Touch of Evil. Want to get revenge on Hollywood? Kill off your psuedo-producer. Michael knew Elvis. Whether Elvis knew Michael is the real mystery.
Carol Adrienne- Find Your Purpose, Change Your Life, The Purpose of Your Life, Experiential Guide
Your Child's Destiny : A Numerology Guide for Parents. Carol deserves the huge following she has gathered over the years. A good heart doing good work. It don’t get no better than that.
Stefan Bolz, is working on his first novel, a memoir of his home country, Germany. Think of a word that begins with B. Then think of a word that starts with C. Heh, heh, heh.
Kris Scuccimarra-The Loon Box and Kris is working on his first novel, Blue Bird. If he would stay off the pavement maybe we’d get to read this dang book.
Liz Lesiak-Mother’s Blood. Liz just went and did it.
Michelle Collotta has just finished her first novel. It’s an amazing moment when a wonderful poet writes their first book (like Kris Scuccimarra). The early draft is already an exquisite combination of wonderful prose and shocking reality. It’s an amazing moment when talent and promise collide to manifest a great book.
Anna Maria Pellegrino’s- Diary of a Rapist is one of the most amazing, literate, and frighteningly real books I’ve ever encountered. For anyone who’s ever wondered how the mind of a rapist works, Pellegrino (a psychologist from Italy) shows the truth clearly.
Perry Bales-Last Man to Kill, No Man Canyon, and Second Fastest Gun. Perry’s cool because he’s written great westerns when the only horses people see nowadays are on merry-go-rounds... well, and at race tracks.
Jay Cookingham is the visual genius behind the classy covers that grace the books at Vivisphere Publishing. There is a rumor that each time he completes a great cover he loses another patch of hair.
Carol Tanzman’s first book, The Shadow Place, a YA (young adult) novel, will be published in the Fall of 2002 by Roaring Brook Press, the new fiction imprint of Millbbrook Press. Don’t be surprised when, over the next few years, Tanzman becomes a well-known figure in YA publishing. She has three more books in the cooker, and all of them are good. (Inquiring minds want to know!)
Joseph Viertel is a classic novelist with the story-telling savvy of a Harold Robbins, mixed with the complexity of Arthur Haily. His previously published novels, To Love and Corrupt, The Last Temptation, Monkey On A String, and a new novel due out in 2002, Waltzing.
John Paul Lewis, (yes, his grandfather was named Sinclair), continues the family tradition with his first novel, Buffalo Gordon, an exciting post- Civil War tale of a powerful African American sergeant who takes his troops west. John Paul is a great friend and has worked hard on his craft, recognizing that every paragraph would be scrutinized by his famous ancestor’s reputation. It took great courage to write this book, but he has that in spades. Hell, writing a book is easy compared to raising a baby at his age...
Jacques Condor’s The Condor Tales is an amazing literary and cultural document. Jacques has been collecting Native American tales for the past several decades, and his “Tales” are myths that will raise the hair on your neck and entertain at the same time.
David Reed-The President’s Weekend. David has written faithfully and artfully, and the result is a sexy, historical romp at one of the coolest locales in the country: Mohonk Mountain Resort. (I never got a dinner!)
Chris Thurtle has done a yeoman’s job in creating a website for Vivisphere authors that is the envy of the industry. A musician as well as an accomplished webmaster, don’t be surprised if he emerges from his den with a score in hand that blows the lid off the fantasy market.
Ron Garber is the publishing genius behind Squeeze Books. He is also the main squeeze of author Karen Daniels. I wonder what musical instrument he plays. (I dare not say it).
Vivian Allison-Footprints of the Garden Snake. The greatest candy maker and friend a writer could have, she has written a book that makes me laugh every time I think of it.
Judith Searle is one of those rare multi-talented artists who is as comfortable on the stage as she is on the page. An author, editor and lecturer, her books include: The Literary Enneagram : Characters from the Inside Out , Getting the Part : Thirty-Three Professional Casting Directors Tell You How to Get Work in Theater, Films, Commercials, and TV, and Lovelife : A Novel.
Other Authors not pictured:
Dirck Van Sickle (married to that wonderful literary film agent, Evva Pryor)-Montana Gothic. A cult classic from a man whose writing, I believe, will be honored for decades to come.
Sarah Haffner-The Elements of Style. There is no writer and certainly no woman like Sarah.
Howard Shank-Jack and Charlie Book I and Jack and Charlie Book II. One of the nicest men in America has created two of the most charming characters the world of detectives has ever seen. (Where’s my Scrabble Board, Howard?)
Lia Skidmore-Gold Marilyn. Anyone who loves the world of art will absolutely adore this book... and Lia. Oh, to have half her taste and style.
Elise d’Haene- Licking Our Wounds. I don’t think there’s ever been a more provocative, funny, and human book ever written. (Well, maybe one or two, but no more than that).
Ann Brandt-Crowfoot Ridge. Ann did it the hard way, but she faithfully wrote a real book and the reward? The reviewers universally throught it was wonderful.
Seth Margolis-Perfect Angel and Losing Isaiah. Both these books are out of print, which just goes to prove how screwed up publishing is to let someone like Seth fall through through their fingers.
Sol Stein-The Magician, Stein on Writing and How To Grow A Novel. Sol is not only one of the greatest teachers of writers, he was one of the best publishers... and has the uncanny ability to write well-crafted, intense novels that stick to you like brambles on a mohair sweater.
|
