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Dirda on Books
Hosted by Michael Dirda
Washington Post Book World Senior Editor
Thursday, Oct. 25, 2001; 2 p.m. EDT
Washington Post Book World Senior Editor Michael Dirda takes your questions and comments concerning literature, books and the joys of reading.
Each week Michael Dirda's name appears -- in unmistakably big letters -- on page 15 of The Post's Book World section. If he's not reviewing a hefty literary biography or an ambitious new novel, he's likely to be turning out one of his idiosyncratic essays or describing his travels to, say, a P.G. Wodehouse Convention. Although he earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Cornell, Dirda has somehow managed to retain a myopic 12-year-old's passion for reading. He particularly enjoys comic novels, intellectual history, locked-room mysteries, innovative fiction of all sorts -- just the sort of range you'd expect from a Pulitzer Prize winner in criticism (1993).
These days, Dirda says he still spends inordinate amounts of time mourning his lost youth, listening to music (Glenn Gould, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, The Tallis Scholars), and daydreaming ("my only real hobby"). He claims that the happiest hours of his week are spent sitting in front of a computer, working. In the fall of 2000 Indiana University Press published "Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments," a selection from Dirda's Book World columns. He hopes to bring out a companion volume soon.
Dirda joined The Post in 1978, having grown up in the working-class steel town of Lorain, Ohio and graduated with highest honors in English from Oberlin College. His favorite writers are Stendhal, Chekhov, Jane Austen, Evelyn Waugh, T.S. Eliot, Nabokov, John Dickson Carr, Joseph Mitchell and Jack Vance. He thinks the greatest novel of all time is either Murasaki Shikubu's "The Tale of Genji" or Proust's "A la recherche du temps perdu." In a just world he would own Watteau's painting "The Embarkation for Cythera." He'd also like to spend six months in Florida writing a book that would become a runaway best seller, a critical success, and the hottest cinematic property of the year. A guy can daydream, right?
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! Some of you may know that I was online an hour ago with a Washington Book World Book Club Book discussion of Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, which means that my fingers are a little tired and that we may have questions about that wonderful novel. But enough of this idle chit-chat and on to the real chat!
Washington, D.C.:
Michael--
What do you make of the dust-up between Oprah Winfrey and Jonathan Franzen, author of THE CORRECTIONS? It's my understanding that Franzen felt uncomfortable about "corporate ownership" of his book and didn't want Winfrey to give her imprimatur on the tv show. Given how difficult it is in this country to publish a book and how even more difficult it is to sell serious books, I don't understand why Franzen just didn't keep his mouth shut. Am I missing something?
Michael Dirda: I only know about as much as you do about this "dust-up"? Can anyone out there enlighten us further? I've been away for five days in Louisiana and Florida--currently my two favorite states--and did my best to avoid all news, whether about anthrax or authors.
Maryland:
About the Phillip Pullman trilogy: I
loved the first book "The Golden Compass,"
but thought the magical quality was going
out of the books as the 2nd & 3rd appeared.
Did you think they were as good as the
first?
Michael Dirda: No, I think you're right: The first book is the best. The second deepens and further darknes matters--e.g. th edeath of Lee Scoresby, the severing of the finger and its unhealing wound, the destruction of the witches--and the third makes matters almost too portentous at moments. But one says this only by comparison to the seeming perfection of the first books. The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass are, though flawed slightly, nonetheless still filled with wonderful scenes and characters. I stand by my view that on the whole the series is still the best children's fantasy of our time.
Washington, D.C.:
Amidst all the depressing anthrax stories, I was happily diverted this week by reading about Jonathan Franzen's equivocal comments on being chosen for Oprah's Book Club. One assumes his publisher must be incredulous, when you think what she can do for sales. (Think of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader vaulting to the best-seller list several years after it had come out once it got the Oprah nod.) I don't know anything about Franzen. I'd be interested in learning more, and in any comments you have on the Oprah brouhaha.
Michael Dirda: See previous posting, asking for reader response.
Washington, D.C.:
Tell us about the Embakation of Cythera. And what, by the way is an Edward Gorey coffee mug?
Michael Dirda: The EMbarcation for Cythera is a painting by Watteau. It shows a number of 18th century couples in a bucolic landscape; in the middle distance is a boat, toward which they are all wandering. Legend has it that Cythera was the island of love, a place of perfect happiness. The catch was that lovers could embark for Cythera but none ever arrived there. It is a mutedly autumnal painting--obviously matching my own inner self--and one of the two masterpieces of Watteau, my favorite 18th century painter. The other masterpice, by the way, is his Gilles, the portrait of a street carnival clown. To look at the face of this figure in ballooning white garments is to feel all the sorrow of the world.
Edward Gorey pictures appear on various t shirts, buttons and coffee mugs. I was thinking of those for the Mystery program. But isn't the allusion to Gorey gone from my new write up? On the other hand, I've just written about Gorey for our Halloween issue.
Washington, D.C.:
Do you have a perspective on reading speed? How fast do you tend to read?
Michael Dirda: I try to read as slowly as possible. I move my lips, I sound out every word, I savor the sentences. Most fiction I read at about 50 or 60 pages an hour, thrillers a little faster, complicated books considerably slower.
Spring Valley, Calif.:
Michael, I tutor elementary school kids in reading, in a volunteer program. Until now, I haven't paid too much attention to your discussions of children's books, but now I need help. I have a 7 year old Matthew who loves soccer and (I'm informed) has a "comprehension" deficit. Any ideas?
Michael Dirda: I've been away from any professoinal involvement in children's books for three or so years now (after a dozen years as children's book editor). I'm sure there are picture books about soccer for kids, but I can't name any titles. You really should stop by your local library or bookstore and talk with the experts there.
Pentagon:
From Today's Post -- Lloyd Grove (just did a search because I hadn't heard anything about this either): "The Corrections," fiction: Oprah Winfrey has punished best-selling novelist Jonathan Franzen for dissing her Book Club, canceling a planned show devoted to his novel "The Corrections." Winfrey had picked it to be the subject of a televised dinner, but then Franzen told interviewers that he was variously "uncomfortable" and "conflicted" about the selection. Winfrey promptly issued an icy response: "Jonathan Franzen will not be on the Oprah Winfrey show. . . . It is never my intention to make anyone uncomfortable or cause anyone conflict." Franzen's publisher, Farrar Straus & Giroux, then tried to repair the damage by releasing a clarification in Franzen's name: "I was delighted that Oprah Winfrey picked 'The Corrections' for her Book Club. . . . I was never conflicted about any of this, although the printed logo -for Oprah's Book Club] on the dust jacket did make me uncomfortable." Hmmm. That sure helps.
Michael Dirda: Thanks. I obviously haven't looked at today's paper yet. It seems to me that everyone is acting in character: Jonathan Franzen, as an artist, as arguably a major American novelist, doesn't want his book thought to be a middle-brow best seller; Oprah probably hoped to show that she wasn't just choosing middle-brow "women's" novels for her club; and Farar Straus is desperately trying not to lose the big, big sales an Oprah selection means. All in all, the flap does remind one that any publicity is good--people will talk about Oprah's Book Club again--I suspect we'd been taking it somewhat fr granted--and about The Corrections.
Maryland:
I'm torn. As ridiculous as it may be, I won't buy a book if it has the Oprah seal on it. But I still think Franzen made a huge mistake, especially if he is as concerned as he professes about reaching out to a wider auidence. A bit disappointing.
Michael Dirda: thanks. see previous posting.
Silver Spring, Md.:
About Naipaul and the Nobel, your comments refreshed a dim recollection that you didn't like the man, but I don't remember any specifics. I found the vehemence of your negative comments intriguing, though they gave me no inclination to seek out anything he's written (a writer I have never gotten around to and may never do so). Can you explain a bit more why you are so down on Naipaul?
Michael Dirda: He once deeply insulted one of my closest friends, for no good reason. The discourtesy offended me profoundly, even though I know writers should be forgiven their human flaws. THere is, after all, a dysjunction--is that the word I want?--between the artist who creates and the all too human woman or man who exists in this world.
Fairfax, Va.:
Franzen comes off as an idiot on this Oprah mess. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth! If he had issues with her previous selections (which are admittedly not always fabulous), he shoould have declined the privilege of her helping him sell tons of books. Instead he did petty backbiting to the press. Poor form, sir.
Michael Dirda: Perhaps. But whichof us hasn't made a decision that he almost immediately regretted? Ideally, we should all be models of maturity, but what a dull world that would be.
Maryland:
I think I read you had said your parents
alternately encouraged and discouraged
your reading, as a child. Can you elaborate
on this, or give us any examples?
Michael Dirda: My mother taught me to read at 4 and myh father used to kick books out of my hands when he saw me reading instead of playing baseball or building something in the garage. For a fuller account, see my essay on my dad in my collection Readings.
Fairfax, Va.:
What three fiction and three autobiographical books would you recommend for just enjoyable reading? (I enjoy -- and am amazed at -- your column each Sunday.) Thanks.
Michael Dirda: This is a pretty broad question. Let's just do the autobiographical: 1) Rousseau's Confessions--the liveliest and most beauituflly written of all autobiographies. 2) ANthony Burgess's two part memoir of his life--Little Wilson and Big God, and You've Had Your Time--the best author autobiography of our time--filled with gusto and great gossip. 3) The first volume of Bertrand Russell's autobiography--absorbing life, friends, story.
New York City, N.Y.:
I know that you have a fondness for literary biography, but when it comes to straight history what period do you favor? Do you respond to military history or are you like me and tend to veer towards social history?
Michael Dirda: Toward intellectual history. I'm pretty much interested in anything between classical times and the Victorians. The periods I know best are late antiquity and the early modern (16th-18th centuries). The scholars I like to read include Peter Brown, Frances Yates, Anthony Grafton, John Hale, E.R. Curtius. Try Brown's Augustine of Hippo; Frances Yates's The ARt of Memory; anyh of Grafton's essay collections; Hale's THe Civilization of hte Renaissance in Europe; and Curtius's European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages.
Alexandria, Va.:
What do you suggest doing with books I don't want? Are there any organizations that would actually want a book club version of Shades of Travis McGee or an extra copy of The Once & Future King?
Michael Dirda: Sure. Any of the local book sales--Goodwill, Stone Ridge--would take the books in a flash.
Maryland:
I have the British version of Harry Potter
& The Philosopher's Stone. I've been
comparing it to the American version. Other
than "translating" British English into
American-English, I noticed in the first
book, Dean Thomas was described as a black
boy. I checked the same passage in the
British edition, and this sentence does not
appear.
Michael Dirda: I did know there were differences between the two editions, but wasn't aware that revision for some kind of political correctness was going on. But I've only read the first two Potter novels.
Washington, D.C.:
Hello Michael -- I'm reading Laurie Colwin's "A Big Storm Knocked It Over," which, among other things, takes a humorous and poignant look at how parenthood changes your life. I wondered if you could suggest any other novels with this theme.
Also, a related question: do you think being a parent has helped or hindered your work as a book critic, i.e. has it prevented you from finding the time to do really great writing, or given you insights that you might not have had -- or maybe a combination of both! Thanks.
Michael Dirda: CHristina Stead's The Man Who Loved CHildren.
At first parenthood gave me a new subject for some of my essays--the tribulations of the harried father. I now hold a far more jaundiced and unpopular view of family life: Though I love my three sons and try to be a good father, as far as I am able, I suspect that Cyril Connolly was right: The pram in the hallway is the enemy of promise. The energies that might have gone into art--or possibly into hanging out in bars--have been spent on ferrying children to school events and soccer games. My home life, rocked by hip-hop and wracked with emotional upheaval-is positively inimical to writing or what many people must imagine my life must be like. I only get anything done by pure force of will and/or by neglecting some of my parental or domestic duties. This is a sensitive subject for me.
Alexandria, Va.:
A pox on both of them. Who cares what Oprah thinks about anything? A seal of approval for serious literature issued by a yo-yo dieting talk show host? What utter rot. And I don't plan on reading Franzen's new book. I couldn't even bring myself to finish "The Twenty-Seventh City," his syrupy homage to his hometown of St. Louis. I only wish Hemingway was around today. I would love to have seen what his reaction would be to "oprahfication!"
Michael Dirda: Nice invective.
Washington, D.C.:
Just a comment on the Oprah discussion -- I don't think Franzen was the first 'serious' writer to be chosen. Kingsolver and Morrison come to mind. This talk of the intellectual inferiority of the Oprah book selection really makes me angry. Her selections have been both entertaining and informative. And they have gotten a lot of people to read and think. Where's the harm in that?
Michael Dirda: Good points.
Washington, D.C.:
I think Franzen did say later that he genuinely regretted his comments and didn't mean for them to come off as they did. And I don't think Oprah's response was "icy" so much as honest. She really didn't want to make an author feel uncomfortable. I don't think we should be too quick to judge either party.
Michael Dirda: Ok.
Pentagon:
What to do with used books. The State Department will also take used books for their Excellent once a year book sale.
Michael Dirda: thanks
Boston, Mass.:
Hear, hear on the Curtius! A grand book.
Michael Dirda: In my youth I wanted to be either Curtius or Erich Auerbach (author of Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western LIterature).
Oprah:
Maybe I'm too plebeian in my reading tastes, but I don't understand why the "Oprah seal" sends serious readers screaming. So if it's popular (or worse, popular among women), it can't be Literature?
Oprah is one of the savviest (not to mention wealthiest) women alive; can it be so shameful to read and enjoy something that she personally read and enjoyed?
And my final argument for Oprah is the same as my argument for Harry Potter: If it gets people reading. . . .
Michael Dirda: Yes, I make the same argument myself. But Oprah does have a relatively narrow bandwidth.
Washignton, D.C.:
Michael,
Who were the greatest readers (not necessarily professional critics) you have know. I'm think of a person, or persons, whose ability to read widely and deeply and intelligently impressed or inspred you?
Michael Dirda: E.F. Bleiler, who edited books for Dover and helped rediscover many of the great VIctorian writers of mystery and fantasy fiction; Robert Phelps, the most winning man of letters I have ever known (see THe Literary Life: A Scrapbook Almanac of the Anglo-American Literary Scene); Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading and Reading Pictures, who writes beautifully in at least three languages; the awesome and sometimes annoying George STeiner; the also awesome and annoying Susan Sontag; and myh old high school French teacher, now dead for 25 years, William Briola.
Herndon, Va.:
A couple of weeks ago I posted that I was struggling through Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon." Well, last night I clawed my way to the last of the 918 pages. I stand by my earlier assessment that it contained way too much self-indulgent fluff which hurt the effectiveness of the story.
That said, it had lots of brilliant sequences and funny parts, so it certainly wasn't a waste of time. I just hope his next manuscript goes through an editor with the nerve to really edit him.
Michael Dirda: Glad to have the update.
Capital Hill:
I'm looking to buy a book for someone who's stuck in a severe reading rut. He's a big fan of John Irving and Walker Percy. Any suggestions to expand his repetoire?
Michael Dirda: As he likes Irving, have him read Irving's master: Robertson Davies. STart with Fifth Business.
Winston-Salem, N.C.:
Getting ready for a trip to Spain. Have read some Miguel de Unamuno (San Manuel the Good, Martyr?), anything else you might suggest before the trip. Is the author of the Fencing Master Spanish?
thanks
Michael Dirda: Yes, Perez-Reverte. I'd suggest a differnt book, though, possibly The Club Dumas or The Flanders Panel. Of Unamuno you should read his masterpiece, the beauitfully titled The Tragic Sense of Life. Of course, the book about Spain is still Don Quixote. For a modern guide book, James MIchener's Iberia is quite splendid, as is James Morris's picture album Spain.
Dupont Circle:
Perhaps a topic of discussion for the future is how were you encouraged or discouraged from reading as a child. I have a friend whose parents would take her books away and send her "outside to play" for fear she would be anti-social. And, I thought I was mistreated when my parents wouldn't let me read at the dinner table!
Michael Dirda: Hmm. Ok. Let's talk about childhood reading experiences next week.
Somewhere, USA:
What sections of Walden are your favorite?
Michael Dirda: THe opening chapters (e.g. Where I lived and what I lived for) and the last. "I do not say that John or Jonathan will realize all this but such is the charactger of that morrow which mere lapse of time can nver make to dawn. The light that puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. The sun is but a morning star."
Herndon, Va.:
I must congratulate you on your new photo. Very spiffy.
I am looking for a couple of really good "Halloween" type books. Spooky and mysterious. I already have the classics like Frankenstein and Dracula. Any suggestions?
Michael Dirda: AH, you aint seen nothing yet. Try H.P. Lovecraft for "cosmic" horror; M.R. James for cozy ENglish ghost stories; Robert Aickman for perplexing visions of otherness.
Edgewood, Md.:
Hello Mr. Dirda,
Submitting my question early as I have an all day meeting today. For those who are looking for comfortable reading in these trying times for America, look for John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley. I first read it as a teenager a few years after publication. Although I remember liking it then, it has become a source of comfort now. Steinbeck obviously loves his country and its people. His humor is playful, sometimes sharp, but never with malice. It recalls America as it was forty years ago and still is to a large extent. I have since my first reading traveled America extensively, including a two month road trip similar to Steinbeck's. I found him an accurate and truthful observer, right down to his (and my) love of Montana foremost among the states. He also found then what we have found out now, that Americans are more alike and think more alike than the citizens of any other country. "California Chinese, Boston Irish, Wisconsin German, yes, and Alabama Negroes, have more in common than they have apart... Americans form all sections and of all racial extractions are more alike than the Welsh are the English, the Lancashireman like the Cockney, or for that matter the Lowland Scot like the Highlander." Observations like this can go a long way to cheer a disconsolate American.
Thank you for this chat and your time.
Michael Dirda: THansk for the recommendation. I haven't looked at CHarley in years, but certainly enjoyed it when I read the book in high school. There's a great section about STeinbeck carrying around an edition of Addison's essays.
Rockville, Md.:
Hi Michael,
I wanted to thank you for suggesting "Confederacy of Dunces." I finally found a copy at a MoCo library. I really enjoyed reading it. Can you tell me anything about the author?
I'm also glad you're doing a session on Lord of the Rings. I think I've read the trilogy 15 times since jr. high school. This, Sherlock Holmes stories, and PG Wodehouse books are probably the only ones I read over and over.
Ciao
Michael Dirda: You are a man or woman of excellent taste.
For Capitol Hill:
If he likes Walker Percy, have him try a fellow tormented Catholic, Graham Greene.
Michael Dirda: thanks
Washington, D.C.:
I just wanted to thank you for choosing Housekeeping for the Book Club discussion at noon (I missed the chat). I fell in love with that novel in college and it remains one of my all-time favorites.
Michael Dirda: thanks. It's a great book.
Children vs. art:
Children are the books we write. Like histories, they carry truths about us and our past. Like mysteries, they're constantly unfolding. And like fiction, sometimes their personalities take control of the plot -- but they turn out to be wonderfully different from what you had planned and expected.
Michael Dirda: Different from was expected--no question of that. My problem with being a parent is simple: I still think I have a life to lead and dreams to fulfill, whereas my family isn't really interested in these things; they just want me to earn a living and be there for them. Perfectly reasonable expectations and I don't mean to sound that I'm not grateful for the pleasures of domesticity. But, as the Marzipan Pig once said, I am growing old and bitter and there is such sweetness in me. Bet you never thought I'd feel so--how shall we say--conflicted about the family/art divide. But I do remember Shaw's dictum, cruel as it is: "The true artist will let his wife starve,his children go barefoot and his mother drudge for his living at 70, sooner than work at anything but his art." I'm hardly that way, but I do feel that I have neglected what small artistic gifts I might have. Or perhaps I haven't. If I could have done more, I would have.
Elkin on the Potomac:
Hi Mr Dirda, tried this question last week and you must have run out of time.
What, in your opinion, is the major difference between contemporary American fiction and contemporary British fiction? What is the reputation of American fiction in British academia and visa versa? It seems to me that the majority of big experimental po/mo books are by Americans (Gass, Gaddis, Pynchon, Elkin, Barth, Coover, et al)? Is po/mo fiction a relatively American trend or are we just not seeing the big British po/mo novels over here (Alisdair Gray notwithstanding)? As always, thanks.
Michael Dirda: Complicated. In general I htink your distinction is true, but writers such as Rushdie, Martin Amis, Lawrence Norfolk and A.S. Byatt are certainly pushing on the limits of fictional form. But the Brits certakinly do know how to write small and perfect and witty books, while Americans are more often striving for either anguish or the grand vision.
Arlington, Va.:
For the person making the trip to Spain:
You might want to read some of the works of two of the most famous Spanish saints -- St. Teresa of Avila or Saint John of the Cross.
They were quite important culturally as well as religiously.
Michael Dirda: Yes.
E-Guy:
Michael, I would like to pass on a cautionary message: Folks, don’t put off reading those books you accumulate, but never get around to cracking. I used to read books growing up, but for almost 20 years after I got out of college, the number of books I read I can count on two hands and have fingers left over. Oh, I read plenty, but just ephemeral stuff -- newspapers, magazines, white papers, and press releases -- but those interesting books I bought with good intentions just piled up unread. A couple of years ago, I made a resolution to start reading books again. I’m trying to read a little each day, but it’s been hard to get back into the swing of it, and I can’t seem to read for nearly as long at a stretch as I used to. I’ve read only about half a dozen books in each of the last two years. But even more distressing is that I don’t seem to get the same pleasure out of reading books that I used to, especially with regards to fiction. So, people, if you like books, don’t let reading them slide for too long. As I can attest, use it or lose it!
Michael Dirda: Good points. Certainly the ages between 10 and 14 and then again during college or just after must be the golden age of reading. ONe always hopes that retirement will bring leisure and appetite, but clearly not always.
Mt. Lebanon, Pa.:
I just bought Proust's Mt. Everest of literary works -- I've been meaning to read it for years, especially after seeing on C-SPAN that Shelby Foote has read it many times -- I think he said nine times. I've also bought Roger Shattuck's Proust's Way, a field guide to this classic. My question -- which should I read first? Should I just plunge in and then find out what it was I experienced? Or, should I read a roadmap before traveling off into the unknown? Virginia Wolfe said after reading In Search of Lost Time, what else is there? Thanks much.
Michael Dirda: I'd just plunge into Proust. If you like him, you'll know within 30 pages. If you want a self-contained sample, try the section called Swann in Love--it's a novella within the novel (as well as a template for Proustian love, which is always sad and filled with jealousy and pain--like real love, in other words.)
Well, time is up again, more than up. So until next week--when we'll pursue, loosely, the theme of childhood reading experineces, keep cracking those books.
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