Michael Dirda (The Post)

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Dirda on Books
Hosted by Michael Dirda
Washington Post Book World Senior Editor
Thursday, March 8, 2001; 2 p.m. EST

Washington Post Book World Senior Editor Michael Dirda takes your questions and comments concerning literature, books and the joys of reading.

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 Ph.D. 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."

The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

Michael Dirda: WElcome to Dirda on Books. There'll be a five minute delay before we start today--some unfinished business. Don't go way.

Bethesda, Md.: The on-line magazine Salon published a piece last week called "When Authors Attack," about the extremes to which authors will go when their works are negatively reviewed. What's the worst that you've experienced from an author whose work you panned?

Michael Dirda: I can't say that I've suffered anything from negative reviews I"ve given, partly because I write mostly appreciations or give mixed notices and partly because I think my criticisms tend to be irrefutable (he said immodestly). I suppose I've been bad-mouthed on occasion, however. My colleague Jon Yardley did once receive a dead fish in the mail.

In a Bind in Old Town: Michael,
Have you heard anything about or read "Being Dead?" by Jim Crace. I'm thinking of suggesting it for a book group.

Any thoughts?

Michael Dirda: Crace is a very good novelist and this book received enthusiastic reviews and has been short-listed for several prizes. A real tour de force since the main characters are dead when the book opens, and it goes back to describe their life together.

Milwaukee, Wis.: My Sherlockian friends delight in the Canon; even if it's LitLite. In discussing books by Tolstoy (for instance) the group members are so deadly serious. There's no celebratory spirit over the fact of this art's very existence. Is this the result of Lit being blessed as 'serious' by the academia? There should be more joy and brio in discussing great Lit, and even --dammit-- some silliness, no? grump... grump... grump

Michael Dirda: I'm with you there. One reason I started writing my monthly Readings essays was to offer "literary entertainment," to show people that books should be fun, even serious or scholarly works.

Lenexa, Kans.: Mr. Dirda,(Basic Tips on the Faulkner Oeuvre)

On retirement, my first project was to read every word Faulkner published; the major studies: Cowley--has 1st Yoknap-map, Brooks, Millgate, Bloom; and biographies: Blotner, Gray. My 1st log entry: The Unvanquished 1/15/96, the last: Blotner (read day-by-day) 6/15/96. The Gwynn/Blotner on the U-VA days was read near end.

Possible Tips: Never read Absalom, Absalom! without first reading The Sound and the Fury and preferably the Unvanquished and Flags in the Dust. Read the story "Barn Burning" before starting the great Snopes Trilogy.

QUESTION: The Faulkner corpus is so substantial and interwoven it contains its own ache of nostalgia: the Compson children playing in the branch--Caddy was "always my heart's darling" her creator recalling; "Uncle" Ike McCaslin at the annual hunt thinking back 65 years to his encounter with the bear. Similarly, what other writers have achieved that? Thanks.

Michael Dirda: You have impressive self-discipline. As for your question: Proust generates that sense of time passing, of the years going by: Characters glimpsed as children grow into adult passions and then old friends. You also get this a bit in War and Peace, especially at the very end when the young lovers have aged into heads of households. This same effect can be seen in Charles McCarry's six novels about spy Paul Christopher--later novels revise the earlier ones, sometimes with dramatic effect.

Philadelphia, Pa.: I recently received a copy of Jerzy Kozinski's "The Painted Bird" as a gift. I recall that he was accused of some type of literary wrongdoing in the past (perhaps plagiarism?). I am curious as to the nature of the accusations and whether they were ever substantiated or disproved. Also, can you recommend any other Polish authors in translation (I am familiar with Czeslaw Milosz) or Polish-American authors who write on ethnic themes? Thank you.

Michael Dirda: There was some question how much Kosinski wrote, and whether others helped his ENglish more than merely editing his originals. IN truth, htough, I can't recall all the details.
You should go to the library and look up Martin Seymour-Smith's Guide to Modern World Literature, which has a good chapter on Polish literature. And MIlosz himself has written a history of Polish lit.

Washington, D.C.: Speaking of online sources, Slate recently published a series of "confessions" from writers and critics consisting of books they are embarrassed that they haven't read. Care to offer any books that you wish you had read but haven't?

Michael Dirda: THey asked me to contribute to the list and I meant to and simply forgot. There are lots of books I wish I had read and haven't, but only one I"m embarrassed not to have finished (though I mean to try again soon). But I"m not going to tell you which one.

Spring Valley, Calif.: I know you've talked often and appreciatively about Stanley Elkin, but typically until I had a reason to, I haven't paid much attention.

I read a lovely essay he wrote about reading which sent me to the bookstore. The only title they had in stock was "Mrs. Ted Bliss" and I'm reading it now. Now that it's too late, I guess I'll ask if you think that's a good one to start with.

Michael Dirda: It's a wonderful book, with all the usual Elkin razzmatazz. Most people would start with something earlier, however, such as The Dick Gibson Show (about radio disc jockey) or the short stories in Criers and Kibitzers. With Elkin it's the language that matters most.

Vienna,Va.: I wonder if you saw last Sunday's New York Times magazine article on Paula Fox? I consider myself pretty conversant with modern fiction, but I had never heard of her. It's good to see that such talent ultimately gets recognized although it's scary to think about how often authors are permanently overlooked. Are you familiar with her work and do you have any views on her writing? Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Desperate Characters has long had its coterie of admirers, but it's been good to see that and two other of her novels reprinted in paperback, with introductions by hotshots like David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Lethem. Of course, to children's book readers, Fox is well known as the author of the Newbery award winner, The Slave Dancer.

Falmouth, Mass.: What happened to the John Le Carre session that was supposed to appear Feb 21, but kept getting delayed? Now event the teaser seems to have disappeared from the Live Online site entirely.

washingtonpost.com: He has declined to answer questions. We will be posting a notice soon.

Michael Dirda: There you are.

Washington, D.C.: Can you or your readers reccomend a non-fiction spy novel in which much of the action takes place in D.C.? (The sort of book that you could read and then physically go to some of the locations in the book.)

Michael Dirda: A nonfiction spy novel? Some of Ross Thomas's books have DC settings, as do the previously mentioned CHarles McCarry novels--in fact, these would probably be your best bet for spy fiction set in DC. But if you extend your range to thrillers, you might want to check out the gritty DC novels of George Pelecanos, all of which evoke the city in great detail. The most recent is Right as Rain.

New York, N.Y.: I'm trying to find books (either fiction or non-fiction) that focus on the Bloomsbury Group. Anything you can strongly recommend?

Also, I read somewhere that Vita Sackville-
West's son wrote a biography. Do you happen to know the title?

Thanks for your assistance.

Michael Dirda: Nigel Nicolson wrote Portrait of a Marriage, about his mother Vita Sackville West and father Harold Nicolson, both of whom were primarily gay.
There are dozens of books on the Bloomsbury group--biographies, memoirs, fiction. It's hard to know wehre to start. Perhaps a good biography of Virginia Woolf, such as Quentin Bell's.

Bethesda, Md.: I see that the last part of Gene Wolfe's 'Short Sun' trilogy has been published-- this is actually the last of a looooong series that started with the Torturer novels. I've heard that a new 'Soldier' novel is next-- have you heard anything?

Michael Dirda: I once had lunch with wolfe and he told me he longed to write more novels in the Soldier series--in which an ancient fighting man forgets each day's events--but I thought he'd given up on the books because of lack of interest from publishers. But maybe not. Wolfe is a marvelous writer, but he demands sensitive readers willing to put up with a lot of indirection.

Washington, D.C.: Hi Michael,

Last week someone wrote in referring to a book with a literary reputation as "the worst book I've ever read", and that made me wonder whether you can point to one or two books with good reputations that you thought were awful. Obviously there are millions of books with no pretensions to literary merit that are awful (certain genres of romance novel, trashy mysteries, etc.) but then there are the ones that make you say the emperor has no clothes. Do you have any of those?
I've read literary books that I thought were overrated, but my choice for "worst book I've ever read" has remained, for twenty years now, a book I was assigned in college (in a comp. lit class on utopias): "Ecotopia" by Ernest Callenbach. It was apparently hugely successful and spawned a sequel.

Michael Dirda: I'm not sure how good a book Ecotopia was to start with. I really can't answer this question well: My natural instinct is to assume that I'm failing to be sufficently sensitive when I can't respond to a well regarded writer's work. I was put off reviewing Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace, though because I noticed it had a lot about drugs in it--and I'm very anti-drugs. I rather regret this, as the book is probably as good as everyone says it is. My problem tends to be that I lose interest in any title that becomes too popular. Hence, I would probably like Dave Eggers's memoir, but can't see myself reading it because it's hot.

Milwaukee, Wis.: Sixty Minutes showed a piece about the importance of youth and beauty in new authors; that editors want to know how verbal the writer will be on radio and how attractive on TV. Do you find that being a good salesperson is important now in publishing? Do you recommend facelifts?

I suppose Lord Byron would look great on BookTV, but I think they'd kick Samuel Johnson out of the studio.

Michael Dirda: I was recently on Book TV, but couldn't bring myself to look at the videotape. I wonder how I looked.
Well, insofar as books are marketed, it can't hurt to have an attractive salesperson as the author. But we're talking business, not art.
As for the faceliftg: I recommend trying to be true to yourself.

Washington, D.C.: Hello Michael -- One of my favorite writers is the late Laurie Colwin. I've just discovered that, in addition to being a novelist, she also was quite a cook. I just finished her book, "Home Cooking." Are you familiar with her work -- either novels or cooking essays? If so, what do you think of them? Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I think Colwin was a delicious writer. I"m very fond of the series of stories that begins with "My Mistress." I've forgotten which book it's in. She was warm and funny and a pleasure to read and sexy and wise too. The good die young.

Takoma Park, Md. - Crace: With regard to Jim Crace, "Being Dead" is his masterpiece. Full of feeling, elegant language, technically breathtaking.

I tried others of his afterwards, but was less impressed.

"Being Dead" is also short enough for most book group members to get through.

Michael Dirda: Thanks.

Lenexa, Kans.: Thanks for your nice comments. Another thing special about Faulkner is he has his narrator (Gavin Stevens) climb a ridge outside Jefferson in the Snopes Trilogy, and look down panoramically on his creation -- to me a great moment in lit. He said he accepted the Nobel for the "agony and sweat."

QUESTION: Red Lewis's biographer said Lewis was basically finished by the time he got the Nobel. Though some exceptions, that seems often the case. However, don't you think there's a case that Faulkner did much great work post-1949? Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I"m trying to remember the dates, but I do think the SNopes books, especialy THe Town (with its amazing portrait of Eula Varnre) has been underrated.

Milwaukee, Wis.: RE: Kozinski question on wrong doing...
He did admit to raping women when serving in WWII.
His books immediately lost their appeal for me.

Michael Dirda: Did he? I dind't know that.

Fairfax, Va.: Thank you for taking the time for these chats; they brighten up my Thursdays!
I recently finished reading Ellen Glasgow's In This Our Life, and found that it was my favorite among the novels of hers that I've read. There was one thing about it that has been puzzling me, though: 2 of the main characters are girls named Stanley and Roy. Do you know of any reason for Glasgow's giving such masculine names to these female characters? I found it strange in a novel about a proper Virginia family in the 1930's/40's.
P.S. Since you mentioned Muriel Spark a few times, I read The Comforters and am now halfway through Loitering With Intent--I think they are a lot of fun!

Michael Dirda: Hmm. I don't really know the answer to this. ANy Glasgow scholars out there?
yes, Spark is fun--try Memento Mori, in which Death makes phone calls to the elderly characters.

Milwaukee, Wis.: Do you find that certain books seem to be appropriate reading for particular seasons of the year?

Here are examples from my own reading:
War & Peace in winter
Odyssey in spring
Moby Dick in autumn
Montaigne in summer

Michael Dirda: Yes. I've written an essay n appropriate books for each month of the year. I think August was The Stranger and Farewell, My Lovely.

Downtown washington, D.C.: I just found out that I'm going to Turkey in three short weeks. What reading matter do you suggest for the plane and for bedtime reading? I've heard "Innocents Abroad" recommended, but I'd also like something lightish and fictional and evocative of the Ottomans.

Michael Dirda: THere've ben a number of recent books on Turkey and Istanbul in particular. check the bookstores and libraries. There's one, I know, by Mary Lee Settle.

Arlington, Va.: What did you think of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius?" I just read the new epilogue to the paperback and was thoroughly amused, after having recently read the book.

Why was there such a whirl of controversy around the book?

Michael Dirda: SEe my earlier note about not having read Eggers.

Washington, D.C.: Any advice for an aspiring novelist who has had two literary agents fail to sell his work, and whose pile of rejection letters from both agents and publishers gets higher every day? How do you know when to persist and when to give up?

Michael Dirda: You give up when you lose hope. Many well known authors pile up rejection after rejection. I think Geroge V. Higgins wrote five novels before he found his voice in The Friends of Eddie Coyle. You might ask yourself, though, why you write. Is it for fame? money? because it makes you feel good, satisfied? Maybe you're not meant to write novels and should refocus your energy on essays or poetry or something. I'm past 50 and I feel my own literary career could still be just beginning. ON the other hand, I'm frequently delusional.

Takoma Park, Md.: I'm not a Glasgow scholar or a Faulkner scholar, but I've noticed that lots of fictional and real Southern women have masculine names. Quentin for just one. Then there are the ambiguous names like Taylor and Hunter and Carling and so on ad moss-draped infinitum.

Michael Dirda: Is it just a Southern thing?

Milwaukee, Wis.: This question is about reading and aging: Isak Dinesen wrote, "Young men drink to get drunk; old men drink for the drinking." Does this not apply to reading? When young, you read books from start to finish and go on to the next book almost as if on a quest; when old, you savor writing, the opening of the books, reading favorite sections rather than the dutifully completing a work.

Michael Dirda: That sounds right. When young you read to find out about life and about writing; when older, you look for amusement, comfort, more autumnal pleasures.

On the Metro: Any chance of Bookworld's page count being increased to 20 or 24 pages in the near future?

Michael Dirda: Highly unlikely. We'd have to get a lot of advertising.

Milwaukee, Wis.: You've written that Stendal's Red & Black is difficult to find in a good English translation. Do you have any recommendations?

I actually read a piece in the newspaper that Gore's confession to R&B as favorite cost him votes... I think Bush's favorite was Billy the Caterpillar (can't say I've read it ;-)

Michael Dirda: Not really: in general the Penguin versions of foreign classics tend to be adequate or better.

Washington, D.C.: My book group has been reading weighty, pessimistic books lately and we are looking for something a little lighter in mood. Can you recommend something, maybe even something humorous, that still has sufficient substance to generate good discussion?

Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Don't know if it's in print: The Dick Gibson Show, by STanley Elkin (already mentioned).
How about Evelyln Waugh? Try A Hanful of Dust is you want seriousness and humor; Decline and Fall if you wnat mostly comedy.
How about Catch-22?

Winston Salem, N.C.: Regarding the Slate piece at least two reviewers mentioned The Man Without Qualities by Musil. I must sheepishly admit I've never heard of this one. What's its charm?

Michael Dirda: It's the big German language novel corresponding to Proust or Joyce or Faulkner. Plus, it was only recently translated fully and accurately. I fyou want a good brief summary, try V.S. Pritchett's piece on Musil in his Collected Essays.

Lenexa, Kans.: Faulkner on why he wrote (always had several answers):

"I couldn't stay drunk all the time."

"The same reason people write 'Kilroy was Here' on the walls."

Michael Dirda: Thanks again.

Washington, D.C.: Michael --

I know that you are not a sports fan, but are there any books (fiction or non-fiction) with a sports theme or about sports that you have enjoyed. In the past year, I have read "King of the World" by David Remnick and "Friday Night Lights" by H.G. Bissinger (I hpe I got the books nd authors right) and they were both top notch pieces of writing.

Anything you could suggest for the sports fan?

Michael Dirda: SEmi-Tough, by Dan Jenkins. End Zone, by Don DeLillo. John McPHee, A Sense of WHere You Are (on bill bradley); Levels of the Game (on tennis).

Re: Bloomsbury Group: I wrote a paper in college about the political beliefs within the Bloomsbury Group and refered to several biographies and autobiographies none of which were very memorable. Be leery though of the books that were written by members of the group or those very close to them at the time. I found I had to take everything with a grain of salt because everything was so skewed. I know this is true of a lot of books but I found this to be more true about books written about the Bloomsbury Group.

Michael Dirda: thanks

Arlington, Va.: Does reading the best-sellers list ever get you down? Do you ever shake your head ruefully at the potboilers people are reading rather than the serious art they are not (and which in turn is not selling)?

Michael Dirda: I don't read best sellers. Excepting the few books I review that actually become best sellers.

Takoma Park, Md.: Old-style autobiographies?

I'm thoroughly fed up with the new style of ultraconfessional memoir, but love old style autobiographies like Nock's and Erdman's Philosopher's Holiday and other lighter weight but still serious autobiographies.

Any more modern exemplars of such? No miserable childhoods, no incest, no silliness. Just either amusing OR someone with an extraordinary life who could also write well.

Thanks in advance.

Michael Dirda: V.S. Pritchett's, A Cab at the Door.

Michael Dirda: Well, I've run out of steam today, folks. My heart is heavy, for various reasons, and it's been hard to focus, but next week I trust I'll be back in form. Till then, keep reading!

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