Michael Dirda (The Post)

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Dirda on Books
Hosted by Michael Dirda
Washington Post Book World Senior Editor
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002; 2 p.m. ET

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

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?

A 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.

Bookworm in Arlington, Va.: Hi Michael:
What's up with the National Book Awards. The only author I was recognized was Robert Caro. (Who I really admire.) There were a lot of exceptional books this year and some of them ended up on the best sellers list. Is the fact that a book has landed on the NYTs the kiss of death for being even nominated for a prominent award?
It just reminded me of the whole Jonathan Franzen uproar last year of can you be a best selling author and still be considered a serious author.

washingtonpost.com: Robert Caro's LBJ Biography Wins National Book Award (Washington Post, Nov. 21, 2002)

Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books. For the next hour we'll talk about books, reading, reviewing, publishing, what have you, accompanied by the champagne music of Lawrence Welk, with Myron Floren on the accordion and the beautiful Lennon Sisters harmonizing--aren't they lovely--and so ah, one and ah two. . . . Anyway, on with this week's program.

Ah,yes, book awards have been getting stranger and stranger. There was a time when you could roughly guess the winners, but nowadays. . . I suppose this is a good thing, keeping readers on their toes rather than simply following the best seller lists or going back to Roth, Mailer, Updike, et al. Still, one does wish--somehow--that these books and authors seemed a little more, well, exciting. I couldn't remember what the novel was about and I don't know if I ever noticed the poetry. Most disturbing for a book review editor.

Arlington, Va.: Hi Michael -- Do you know of any bars, cafes, bookstores, etc., in the Washington area that have open mike poetry readings? I ask as someone who is interested in both listening and reciting. Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I'm sure there must be at least a few--can anyone out there in radioland help us?

Chicago, Ill.: Early in America's history writers and artists have sought the inspiration of Euorope. Two hundred and twenty-five years later, we're still seeing the same thing. Is this a case of monkey see monkey do, or is the United States really that bad a place to get the creative juices flowing?

Michael Dirda: What are you thinking about? This doesn't seem true at all. American writing has led the world in influence and innovation, at least since Hemingway and Faulkner. More importantly: Does it matter? Don't we now live--I hope--in a library without walls, so that we eagerly read books by Italians (Eco) and Japanese (Murakami) and Peruvians (Vargas Llosa) and Egyptians (Mahfouz) and Czechs (Kundera) etc. etc.

Winston-Salem, N.C.: Welcome back!

Thanks for the review of Marai's Embers which I finally read. I still have the quote from your piece that made me find it:
"One's life, viewed as a whole, is always the answer to the most important questions. Along the way, does it matter what one says, what words and principles one chooses to justify oneself? At the very end, one's answers to the questions the world has posed with such relentlessness are to be found in the facts of one's life." What a wonderful book. I've added it to the books that I look for at used and second hand shops which I buy in quantity so I can pass them to friends (along with anything by Calvin Trillin or John McPhee (except the tectonic plate stuff))

My question, other than with your reviews, do you do anything similar, stockpile favorites for sharing?

Michael Dirda: Yes, I pick up favorite books by favorite writers for gift giving. Which titles you wonder? Russell Hoban's The Mouse and His Child; Randal Jarrell's criticism; Cyril Connolly's The Unquiet Grave; Edmund Wilson's essays; the Nabokov-Wilson letters, the Quest for Corvo, The Literary Life, by Robert Phelps and Peter Deane; the works of Janet Flanner, M.F.K. Fisher, Edmund Crispin's The Moving Toyshop and a dozen other books I can't remember until I see them

Somewhere, USA: <<What are you thinking about? This doesn't seem true at all. American writing has led the world in influence and innovation, at least since Hemingway and Faulkner>>.

Agreed, but you fail to understand my point. Didn't both those writers set most of their novels and write many of their novels in europe?

Michael Dirda: Your point then is that American writers write about Europe or while in Europe? Oh, some do--now and then--after all we do have literary and cultural connections with Britain and Europe. But most American books are written in America by AMericans. Or am I still missing your point?

Washington, D.C.: Hello Michael -- Around this time of year, I often like to read (or most likely, re-read) a Charles Dickens book. Do you have a favorite among Dickens' many works?

Michael Dirda: Not really: Pickwick Papers would seem more appropriately cheery than Bleak House, though. YOu might try some of Dickens journalism: The Uncommercial Traveller was brought out a year or so back and shows Dickens as "New Journalist."

Takoma Park, Md: For a list of local open poetry readings, try this URL:

http://www.blehert.com/info/local.html

Lots more good stuff there, too.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

Buffalo, N.Y.: Apologies if this has been covered before but do you care to comment on the Booker prize flap concerning Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" and it's supposed borrowings from Brazilian Moacyr Scliar's "Max and the Cats?"

Michael Dirda: Don't see how I can since I haven't read either--and while I was away on writing leave I pretty much missed out on all the controversy.

Washington, D.C.: In regards to the opne mic night question, I know Iota Cafe in Rosslyn has a poetry series. However, I'm not sure that they open it up for readings. You should just start your own series of open mic nights. There's a lot of places in D.C. where they would go over well.

Michael Dirda: thanks

Ballston, Arlington, Va.: HR 57 on 14th and R is a non-profit jazz bar dedicated to the preservation of jazz as the only truly American form of music. They also have open mike poetry night sometimes.

Michael Dirda: thanks

Virginia: Hello,

My budget does not allow me to purchase hard cover books. Thus I am always on the lookout for paperback new releases.

I usually have trouble finding this information though, so do you have sources online that would list paperback release dates?

Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Publishers Weekly. Better yet: a weekly visit to your favorite bookstore will keep you up to date. Last bit of advice: You can often buy a hardback for the same price as a paperback from a used bookstore. Of course, the author doesn't receive a royalty.

Arlington, Va.: Do you or any chatters know of good, free sources of reading group or book club-type questions? I'm familiar with readinggroupguides.com, but it doesn't list a couple of books I'm interested in. Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Aren't there one or two books on how to run a book club? Anyone else have thoughts or knowledge for ARlington?

Swim-two-birds: Michael -- Re: the National Bool Awards. I heard the poetry winner read some of her stuff on NPR this morning. It was terrible kitsch, ranking above the likes of Rod McKuen only because of some elementary tricks with alliteration and rhyme. They might as well stop awarding the poetry prize if that's the best they can find.

Michael Dirda: Sorry to hear this.

Takoma Park, Md.: Maybe you haven't noticed Ruth Stone, but she is a fine poet, little-known but has published major works with frontline presses for about 50 years now. I think she deserved the prize.

That said, the rest of the field wasn't overwhelming.

Prizes are pretty random anyway. There's a website someplace that lists Booker and other major prize losers, along with the winners for that year.

Michael Dirda: SEe previous posting--which indicates the whole problem of reviewing poetry: No one seems to be able to really say what makes for good poetry--not so that everyone will agree anyway.

Not to be ageist, but... : The pictures of the National Book Award winners in the paper today looks like they emptied out a retirement home and handed them awards... and the fiction winner won for her first novel. Good heavens, does this mean there is nothing fresh in American literature that they have the lifetime achievement award winner was also the youngest?

Michael Dirda: Yes, I thought pretty much the same thing. But I got into such trouble last week talking about sex, I was afraid to sound ageist too. On the other hand, there's hope for my novel yet.

The Ardent:
Michael,

I for one am glad for the push-back of the 'hour' -- too many things happening during the one-past-noon hour.

I am heading to NYC this weekend, and although I am not staying at the Yale Club I might have a chance at snooping through a few bookstores. Do you have any suggestions for bookshops in the Manhattan and nearby areas?

I am also thinking of diving further into Dostoevsky, having read Crime and Punishment and Notes From the Underground. Should I read The Idiot; would it be beneficial/useful?

Thanks for the reply, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Michael Dirda: The Strand, at 12th and Broadway, is the usual Mecca for used book people in New York. There's also Skyline at 18th and 5th. But the heyday of Fourth Avenue is gone. Still ask at one book store to direct you to another.

I'd probably read The Devils (aka The Possessed) or even The Brothers K next.

Washington, D.C.: How are you? Glad to have you back.

Michael Dirda: How am I? Always these tricky questions in the middle of the hour. The short answer: tired, uncertain about everything, filled with angst, over-committed, and restless.

Alexandria, Va.: Michael, have you read "The Lovely Bones" yet? What did you think of it, or is it totally not your thing? I thought it was an amazing construction, having a 14 year old girl who stays forever 14 in "her heaven," but watching her family and friends move on and cope with her death.

Michael Dirda: Nope. It doesn't sound quite my thing--sounds too emotional somehow and I"m leery of emotion in books, being sentimental enough as it is. But it received good notices.

Mt. Lebanon, Pa.: Do any of the old masters ever make a "second coming" where popularity or book sales is concerned? I've been reading a lot of Barbara Tuchmann, Harrison Salisbury, Norman Brown, Jacques Barzun -- though he's still active -- all accompanied by coffee and the Tallis Scholars sharing my office with me. Do you have any long-time favorite works among these venerated authors? Thanks much.

Michael Dirda: Coffee and the Tallis Scholars does sound pretty darn cozy. As a kid I loved Tuchman's books, but haven't read any in years--I suspect there still good reads. The others I've only read spottily and have never been crazy about. The Barzun book I do reread is his Catalogue of Crime, a compilation of mini-reviews of mysteries and true-crime books. Eccentric in some of its views, but fun if you like lists and catalogues.

Washington, D.C.: I enjoyed your review of Saramago's latest novel, "The Cave." I really loved the one book of his that I have read, "The History of the Siege of Lisbon", and your review has made me dust off "Blindness" for when I finish my current reading. Without giving away your forthcoming reviews, can you tell us whether there are any as yet unpublished novels you particularly look forward to, and what they are?

Michael Dirda: I'm looking forward to Steven Millhauser's next book, a collection of three novellas. He's one of my three or four favorite living authors, a stylist who can do anything. In the immediate future I'm reviewing a new translation of an old classic and a number of nonfiction books.

Silver Spring, Md.: Have you read Michael Chabon's new novel Summerland? I believe it is being marketed as a children's book, but I have spoken to librarians in both PG and Montgomery County who have classfied the novel as adult fiction. They claim it is too long (500 pages) and too has a story line that is too convoluted for children. I read the book and enjoyed it immensely. It seems no more difficult than a Harry Potter book, which certainly are more lengthy. Did Chabon and his publishers make a mistake by publishing such a lengthy book and marketing it as a children's book?

Michael Dirda: Haven't read the book yet, but I certainly regard it as a children's book. Whoever said kids books had to be short? Many of the great ones--admittedly sometimes originally written for adults-are long: The Three Musketeers, The Mysterious Island, etc.

Chicago, Ill.: I'm not a fascist, so to prove myself: growing up I read mostly mid 19th century American and Russian writers. I found that they had many similiarities. Russian writers, like American writers, seem to emphasize the individual and his place in society. Am I wrong in this assertion?

Michael Dirda: No. There's also a number of parallels between Irish writers and Russian writers--a point made by Frank O'Connor in The Mirror in the Roadway,his study of the short story.

Goodness gracious!: What on earth is wrong with rewarding mature achievement?

And if the Three Junes author looks to people as though she came out of an old age home, what recourse is there for ANYONE over the age of 32.

What hath the New Yorker and its Photogenic New Authors issue wrought!

I'd MUCH rather read Saramago or Carol Shields than whatever the Youth Flavor of the month is.

Michael Dirda: Well, yes, I"m with you on S and S. But they're already prize winners and giants. Somehow awards should go to the ambitious young, just to keep literary standards going for another generation or so. On the other hand, a couple of my favorite writers only started late in life: Penelope Fitzgerald, for instance.

Takoma Park, Md.: Remember that Jane Kenyon looked pretty simple and kitschy until you meditated a bit on her poems. In particular I'm thinking of the one where she gives her dog a bone when he begs, instead of a stone. Short and quick and simple, until you think through the New Testament echoes and the comment on power and human/animal relations.

Not everything shows all its depth on a first hearing, or comes across fully. Even Philip Larkin used to rail about that. He thought poetry readings would be the ruin of poetry.

Michael Dirda: Very nice point. Yes, Kenyon was marvelously rich and simple at the same time. Pity how the writers we really like die young.

Washington, D.C.: Michael -- Re. the National Book Awards:

First, isn't there a favorite novelist of yours (Penelope Fitzgerald) who began writing late in life (age 59)? What's the problem with someone winning for a first novel written late in life, as long as it's well-written? That's the point, isn't it -- not the author's age?

Second, the winner for the young adult prize, Nancy Farmer, is very highly esteemed in the world of children's books, and well-known to young readers. She's the author of a Newbery Honor book, "The Ear, the Eye and the Arm," which is a favorite among preteens and teens. So there was at least one other well-known winner, in addition to Robert Caro.

Michael Dirda: Yes, and see my previous posting.

Fairfax, Va.: You too are "tired, uncertain about everything, filled with angst, over-committed, and restless?" Welcome to middle age, amigo. Comfort in numbers and all that. Chin up.

Michael Dirda: Yes, but I've been here for a while--and don't like it. Or maybe I do? That's the terrifying possibility.

Arlington, Va.: Michael,

I'm so glad you're back at last -- what a dry spell without your weekly literary insights.

I, too, read Sandor Marais' "Embers" based on your recommendation and loved it. I also read "The Leopard" by di Lampedusa at your suggestion and loved it as well. Are there any others of this genre that you can recommend?

Michael Dirda: I'm not sure what that genre is. Aging aristocrats? The passing of the old order? How about Sybille Bedford's A Legacy?

Buffalo, N.Y.: I'm a fan of Thomas Disch's books about the lameness of contemporary poetry. I'm sure he's amused by this year's National Book Award nominees in Poetry. Do you find any contemporary poetry worth reading?

Michael Dirda: Lots--but not many youngsters. Among the living: Anthony Hecht, Richard Wilbur, Kenneth Koch, Mark Strand, Linda Pastan, Disch himself.

Washington, D.C.: Thanks for the word re: Steven Millhauser. I have always meant to read more of his work (enjoyed "Martin Dressler" some years ago). Do you happen to know whether James Salter will be coming out with anything in the near future?

Michael Dirda: Ah, Salter--another of my favorites. So far as I know he doesn't have anything on the horizon. A Sport and a Pastime and Light Years are wonderful novels--but very sad.

Eyre Affair: Would you consider the Eyre Affair an adult book or children's book? I'm reading it now and it is the first book since childhood that I can remember the same sort of allure.

Michael Dirda: adult. Too many literary allusions to work for kids. It is fun and it does have something of that larky feel of E. Nesbit, say.

Takoma Park, Md.: On the issue of what is and is not a children's book, check out this link:

It points to a fabulous article by Diana Wynne Jones about how she had to simplify things when she moved from children's novels to adult novels.

Michael Dirda: Diana Wynne Jones is the most brilliant English fantasy novelist--thanks for the link. A novel like Hexwood--a children's book--is more complicated in structure than almost anything I've read in grown-up fiction.

Pleasantville, N.Y.: Fualkner's novels set in Europe? Am I seeing things? Virtually all of Faulkner's mature works are set in Yokonatawpa County, Miss. You cannot get more American.

Michael Dirda: A few are set in Europe--notably A Fable.

Accra, Ghana: Michael,

Welcome back! It is good to find your chats back on-line. Accra is turning out to be the best place I have ever seen for buying books. I just found over 50 volumes from the Loeb Classical Library selling for $0.60 a piece. I used to moon over them at Borders, unwilling to spring for the $20 plus per volume. Now I found over $1000 worth of them for $30. And there are other odd things in the shops here. A positive glut of advanced physics and math texts. Who would have thought so many young Ghanaians were studying general relativity?

Speaking of the classics, I think you once said you wished you had learned to read Greek. If you want to, I wholeheartedly recommend Clyde Pharr's Homeric Greek, A Course for the Beginner. It plunges you right into the first book of the Iliad and goes through grammar and vocabulary at a reasonable pace. By the time you finish, you have read Book I through, and with a dictionary (and a certain amount of persistence) you are off through the rest of Homer. It took me 10 years, on and off, to get through the Iliad and I just began the Odyssey. I had never read it in English (saving myself for the wedding night, so to speak). What a great change of atmosphere after the Iliad. Even with the suitors sprawled all over the palace, it is such a relief to be away from the war. Feels like the sun has finally come out. Maybe the Iliad is "higher" art, but, boy, it was getting oppressive. Hope all is well and welcome back.

Michael Dirda: Great posting. Maybe a course in rosy-fingered Greek is just what I need for my blues.

Bethesda, Md.: Michael,

Life begins again now that you are back.
My question: what are the gates of progress, psychologically, that mark the maturing taste of a confirmed book reader?
Thanks for a thoughtful answer.

Michael Dirda: Ooh, a thoughtful answer--that makes it hard. I suppose a number of things mark a mature reader: 1) an ability to appreciate a wide variety of books; 2) an increased liking for biography, memoirs, philosophy and history; 3) valuing style and tone above plot and action; 4) a wish to reread familiar books as much as read new ones; 5) a return to the classics; 6) a desire to own one's favorite books in hardcover.

More good poets: Bob Hickok
Louise Gluck
Mary Oliver (but running down and repeating herself these days)
Gerald Stern
William Stafford

There's a spot between the dry formalists and the "I stand here ironing and look out the window and think of my grandmother" types. Plenty of poets fill it, but they're hard to find.

Michael Dirda: Thanks. But I sure would like to know about what you think of your grandmother when you stand at the window. Lovely characterizatoin.

Swim-two-birds, again: Perhaps I was too hasty in dismissing Ruth Stone on the basis of the dozen lines I heard on NPR. While they weren't too hot -- and probably were made to seem less so by the fact that just about everything on Morning Edition is pretentious and banal -- I was prompted by her defenders to find a couple of her poems on-line and they look decent enough. So I retract my previous snap judgment.

Michael Dirda: Ok. All is forgiven.

Silver spring, Md.: After a few weeks of reading babbling but fine wordsmiths like Bob Hicok and Jon Loomis and a few better known ones, I find Ruth Stone's poetry wonderfully ear and eye clearing.

Ya gotta have all kinds of poetry, and not all of it will look great at first encounter.

Michael Dirda: thanks

Bethesda, Md.: Kenneth Koch is dead.

Michael Dirda: Damn, when did this happen?

Ann Arbor, Mich.: I bet I'm too late -- but last week you had a reader write in asking about a children's story with a lion-like creature who bit his tail in it. That was Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book -- a wonderful bedtime story I grew up with.
Just wanted to chime in about that...

Michael Dirda: thanks

Alexandria, Va.: The news media sometimes refer to literary figures such as Amiru Baraka or Tom Paulin as being poets, even though their works do not appear to use rhyme or metric structure.

What is a poet these days? Is anyone who places a series of incomplete sentences on separate lines a poet?

Is poetry simply a matter of not using punctuation or conventional line spacing? Once rhyme and meter are gone, what is left of poetry?

Michael Dirda: A poet is someone who says he's a poet.

Alexandria, Va.: Harvard has reinvited poet Tom Paulin to lecture at Harvard after cancelling the previous lecture in reaction to Paulin's advocacy of shooting dead all Brooklyn-born Israeli settlers.

Do you think that it is appropriate to invite or uninvite literary figures to speak based upon whether the speakers espouse violence?

Michael Dirda: If you invite someone to a party, you don't withdraw the invitation. But you should know your guests first.

Takoma Park, Md.: Thanks, Swim-two-birds, for reconsidering. Agree wholeheartedly about Morning Edition.

Michael Dirda: thanks

Cambridge, Mass.: Good afternoon, Michael. I'm a college student soon to be heading home for Thanksgiving. After three months of studying Medieval and Renaissance literature and 20th century poetry, I've essentially forgotten for a novel looks like. I'll finally have time to read for pleasure over the break. Broad question, I know, but any thoughts as to a novel that will get my engines going again that I can read in 3-4 days? In my former life, the last novels I read and enjoyed were Genji, Beauty and Sadness, A Lost Lady, Candide and, um, I can't recollect beyond that.

Michael Dirda: Gee. The world is full of books--isn't there some novel you really want to read? What you've read in the past is great. So out of the ether I recommend: The Maltese Falcon, The Pilgrim Hawk, At Swim Two-Birds--a certain avian theme there.

Re: Ken Koch: July 6

Michael Dirda: Sigh.

Herndon, Va.: Is there a difference between the terms “autobiography” and “memoir?” To take an example purely at random: If one were to write a book about one’s childhood, growing up in the Midwest and becoming a voracious reader, and the book ended as the author entered young adulthood, I would think the book would be more aptly described as a memoir. But if this same book were to be the first part of a series of books that went on to describe the author’s college days, his years as a gun runner, living in a flop house in Mexico, his brief foray as a technical writer, and his years spent on a major newspaper writing first-class essays and erudite book reviews, then the same book might be the first volume of an autobiography. Is there a distinction between the terms, or are they pretty much synonymous?

Michael Dirda: Hmm. Memoirs do tend to be self-contained and focused on coming of age. Autobiographies cover a whole life, with all its joys and sorrows. For those not in the know, the question describes my own current project. I've now decided to stop at the age of 19, when I met my first real writer and had a glimpse of my vocation. Unless people clamor for more, more, I think that will be it. I'll compile my miscellaneous essays and reviews this winter and then figure out the rest of my life and what I want to write.

Awarding prizes to "older" authors.: I have always thought that age brings a certain maturity to the actual writing and the sentiment being conveyed. Perhaps a 20-something can craft a beautiful sentence but what about the insight brought to it.

Of course, I'm under 30 and extremely jealous of those younger authors.

Michael Dirda: Under 30. Please.
I'm not sure I know more now than I did when I was 20. I just have more experience and less future.

Ruth Stone!: Hi Michael,

I hope I'm not too late. Check out this link to some of her poems:

and she won an award for this kind of writing?

so sad.

Michael Dirda: Hmm. Maybe we should do a week on the nature of criticism. Do poeple still read I.A. Richard's Practical Criticism, in which he gave dreck and classic poetry to students, without identifying who wrote what, and asked them to analyze it. Fountainhead of the new criticism.

TaKoma Park, Md.: I'd say memoirs are focused on a single uniting topic or episode, not necessarily on coming of age.

Michael Dirda: Ok. Mine is on reading. Coming of age goes along with it.

Glenmont, Md.: What do you think is Thomas Hardy's best novel?

Michael Dirda: Hard call. The Mayor of Casterbridge.

Pilgrim Hawk: It is in the same genre as Lampedusa and Marai. Now we have to find a name for that genre.

Maybe "drawing room tragedy"?

Michael Dirda: Well, the Wescott does seem a little different from the Leopard. But I see what you mean.

Bethesda, Md.: You say you are leery of emotion in books. What reading experiences have most overwhelmed you with emotion?

Michael Dirda: I've already mentioned one: Light Years, by James Salter. A Tender is the Night for our time. Achingly composed. \

And that brings us to the end of another hour of Dirda on Books. I guess we'll be skipping next week--it being Thanksgiving--and so I expect you all to spend the afternoon with a good book, digesting dinner, sipping coffee, listening to the Tallis Scholars.

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