Michael Dirda (The Post)

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Dirda on Books
Hosted by Michael Dirda
Washington Post Book World Senior Editor
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2003; 2 p.m. ET

Washington Post Book World Senior Editor Michael Dirda took your questions and comments Thursday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. 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?

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: Ok, We're back for the second half of today's double feature. Pretty soon, we'll be going for an all night dusk-to-dawn extravaganza. More Dirda all the time. (Makes the heart sink just writing the words.) Anyway, for the next hour of Dirda on Books we'll talk reviews, publishing, the life of the mind, the humanistic vision, the philology of Meyer-Lubke, the nature of nominalism, the love poetry of the Victorines, minor Elizabethan drama, forgotten mysteries, unforgettable fantasies and the consolations of philosophy. Or at least I'll try to answer your questions and carry on the torch of learning for another 60 or so minutes. So, on with the program, or rather get with the program and on with the show. Must nail down one's cliches.

Bladensburg, Md.: That Patricia Cornwell -- she just won't let poor ol Jack the Ripper go will she? She chases him like W. Bush chases Saddam.

washingtonpost.com: Transcript: Patricia Cornwell (Nov. 15, 2002)

Michael Dirda: Indeed, and an apt analogy. Groucho Marx once claimed that the Ripper was his hero and that he longed to follow in his footsteps. I think the Master was more interested in the girls than in the butchery.

Kilkenny, Ireland: Have you had a chance to read Gaiman's "Coraline" yet, and if so, what did you think? Loved it myself, especially the tasty illustrations by Dave McKean. Also, has Book World any plans to review M. John Harrison's "Things That Never Happen"?(I remember you describing him as a revered elder statesman of fantasy in a piece last year).

Michael Dirda: I read most of Coraline to my 12 year old son, who eventually raced ahead and finished it without me. I can certainly say I found the first two thirds effectively eerie, without being enchanted by it. (Neil, forgive me. I am alone in this heresy.) But I read it in such small increments--one or two pages and my kid is asleep--that I really didn't read it well. In general I'm a great Gaiman fan--and Harrison fan too, though for me he remains largely the creator of Viriconium. I must get caught up. Has THings come out here? I don't think so. Many people have wanted to write aobut it.
'

Arlington, Va.: Read any good books lately?

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. The Victorians by A.N. Wilson and the new Steven Millhauser The King in the Tree. I've got a whole big stack of things I'd like to read. If I can talk my masters into allowing me--a very doubtful proposition, as I've grown paranoid and convinced that everyone hates me--I'd like to do a series of pieces on Victorian fiction. Not the obvious things everyone reads or feels he should read, but books like Pelham, Phantastes, Villette, Cranford, Vice Versa, The Rose and the Ring, Lothair, Uncle Silas etc. The modern world is too much with me, and just as Brits during World War II started reading lots and lots of Trollope I yearn to return to the comforting pleasures of 19th century fiction.

Chevy Chase, Md.: Dr. Dirda my good man,

You've seemed somewhat more dyspeptic than usual lately. Might I recommend some James Thurber, a hot cup of cocoa and a roaring fire?

Michael Dirda: Ah, Thurber. Ever a good read. You might see the previous postings for my current turn of mind. Actually I started life as a great Thurber fan--a paperback of The Thurber carnival acquired at a Hill's department store being the operative means--but now rather prefer S.J. Perelman. And when he's too manic, give me Joseph Mitchell--oops, but Joe is as moody and melancholy as I am, albeit with a delicious prose style. Maybe I should just go directly to Flann O'Brien. Recently bought a hardback of The Dalkey ARchive--which I'd read years ago because in it James Joyce doesn't die but returns to Ireland, renounces his artistic work and spends his time producing tracts for the Catholic Truth Society.

Washington, D.C.: What's the book for next month's Washington Post Book Club?

Michael Dirda: Rebecca West's A Train of Powder--more journalism.

Brooklyn, N.Y.: I have a kind of penchant for literary biography and was sorry to hear that the Viking lives are being discontinued (Edmuch White on Proust, and Edna O'Brien on Joyce were wonderful, I thought.) I remember that some publisher had series of critical biographies, edited, I think, by Frank Kermode. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about. I've been trying t track these down in used bookstores but have had no luck so far.

Michael Dirda: Yes, the series was called Modern Masters, and they were similar to the Viking lives, but with more criticism than biography. Some outstanding volumes included Edmund Leach on Claude Levi-Strauss and Roger Shattuck on Proust. But there have been other such short-critical bio series, for one of which Frank Kermode wrote on Wallace Stevens. Can't recall its series name.

Arlington, Va.:

Hi Michael,

I'm an aspiring student of Spanish and am looking forward to discovering Spanish and Latin literature, as my reading proficiency in the language develops. Can you suggest a few ~cuentos~ to get me started on acquainting myself with ~escritores hispanos~?

Gracias

Michael Dirda: Sure. Why don't you look for one of those Bantam dual language paperbacks for Spanish stories? Otherwise you might try some of Borges's short stories, Cela's chilling short novel The Family of Pascual Duarte, and some of the simpler Boom writers. Look around the bookstore. A good English language anthology, which includes Brazilian stuff, is A Hammock Under the Mangoes, edited by Thomas Colchie.

Washington, D.C.: Michael, have you read anything by Stephen Bury? I gather this is a collaborative effort by Neal Stephenson and his cousin (or something like that). I have enjoyed most of Stephenson's work, especially Cryptonomicon, which was great for reading while commuting, as it is all in fairly short segments. A friend recommended the Bury books, but I haven't heard anything else about them. They don't seem to be that readily available at bookstores, so I'm not sure how much effort to make.

Michael Dirda: This is all news to me. Let me know if you learn more. Let us all know.

Washington, D.C.: Hi Michael -- Just wanted to mention that the illustrator of Pullman's "His Dark Materials" books -- a guy by the name of Eric Rohmann -- won the Caldecott Medal this week for his picture book "My Friend Rabbit." I know you're an admirer of the Pullman books, and thought this might be of interest.

Michael Dirda: Neat. I don't follow kids books the way I used to when I was overseeing our coverage, so I hadn't known this.

Rockville, Md.: I could spend my entire waking life reading, and not read as many books as you have. What is your secret? Are you a speed reader? How do you suggest that I can improve my reading speed?

Michael Dirda: I'm a slow reader, move my lips. But I have spent my entire waking life reading. Actually I haven't, as my forthcoming memoir will indicate: I've had plenty of--how shall I put this?--adventures. But I do remember what I read and I like to pick up odd books and since I buy books and keep them around, they are part of my life. My only advice is: Don't get stuck reading only what everyone else is reading. Also, I will add that my reading taste is growing more finickyh as I age, but that the young should read voraciously and indiscrimnately.

Arlington, Va.: Mr. Dirda --

I read an Atlantic Monthly interview with Kurt Vonnegut in which he said, or indicated that "Bagombo Snuffbox" was his last book.

In my early youth I was a devoted Vonnegut fan, but I grew older (wiser?) and haven't read anything of his since "Bluebeard." Even so, I'm distressed that he may be packing up the Underwood for good.

What do you know about this? And, while were at it, your thoughts on Vonnegut?

Cheers

Michael Dirda: Hadn't seen this admission, but I know that the great Thomas Berger--author of Little Big Man, Regiment of Women and Killing Time--has packed it in. There's no reason a writer should go on till the bitter end, especially if he feels he's said all he has in him. (Note to self: Reflect on this and one's own book-reviewing.) In my hot youth I liked Vonnegut a lot--without worshipping him as did some of my friends. But Mother Night is a dark and effective novle, Sirens of Titans is touching and funny, and I'll never forget Ice-9 from Catch Cradle. But I've never read anything much excpet an occasional essay or short piece since Slaughterhouse Five.

SciFiGirl: Michael -- I just finished reading Nightwatch by Terry Pratchett, and found, like you, that it is a far more mature book than his earlier ones (although still deeply funny, just not as "har-har" funny). Do you think that eventually all true satirists end up writing more serious, but still funny, pieces as they get older? I love the watch books, and Vimes is my favorite Pratchett character. He's so pragmatic, good at his job, and yet so compassionate all at the same time. I think we all wish for a Vimes to mentor us.

Michael Dirda: In truth, Pratchett has long had this moralizing side, almost from the start. But he's now able to indulge it a bit more and to balance it with his other storytelling skills. And really one satirizes in the hopes of changing society or at least making people aware that some things should be changed. The danger is in becoming a cranky old man. But this doesn't seem likely in Pratchett's case yet, plus he's returned to children's fiction with a vengeance and that should occupy him for a while.

Falls Church, Va.: Regarding Jack the Ripper: The social impact and context of the crimes are a heck of a lot more interesting than any forensic investigation of the crimes themselves. See Judith Walkowitz's 1992 book, "City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London."

Michael Dirda: Thanks. I have a friend who conducts the Ripper walking tours in London. I keep meaning to find out what she thinks of Cornwell's thesis that painter Walter Sickert was the villain.

Universityville, USA:
Dear Michael,

I've been an admirer of you and your live chats for some time. Having often participated in the online discussions you lead, I'll make the observation that I have never seen a comment from you on the controversial state of literature departments in American universities.

It seems strange to leave such an important subject unaddressed.

Ce n'est pas une diplomacie, bien calcule de ta part?...

Michael Dirda: Pas du tout. Actually, I think I've rather frequently bewailed the fact that universities teach too much theory and not enough literature. I have nothing against contemporary theory--in my dark past I too have chowed down at that trough--but I worry that grad students haven't cracked any books other than the 30 taught in English classes these days. If you're going to teach literature, you need to read a lot more than the books of the moment. A literature student needs to have read as much as possible in his youth, then gradually come to focus his attention on a few subjects, authors or books. And these he should study with microscopic intensity.

Somewhere, USA: I am a real admirer of Rebecca West, and believe a lot of how you described the difference between Didion's Fiction and Nonfiction can apply to West. I love her (autobiographical with magic!) novels, 'The Fountain Overflows,' 'This Real Night' and 'Cousin Rosamund'. I appreciate her nonfiction as well, but it doesn't "stay" with me the same way.

Michael Dirda: Well, stay tuned for my colleague Dennis Drabelle's take on the heroine of Rosmersholm. Oh, you mean the other Rebecca West.

Richmond, Va.: Mr. Dirda,

Are there books that have been a help to you, as a father, on the subject of family life or child-rearing? I don't mean just manuals, but fiction, poetry, memoirs, letters, anything. Thank you.

Michael Dirda: No. Like all fathers, most of the time I feel that I am a failure. I exaggerate only slightly. I love my sons, and I think they love me some of the time and that's about all I can really expect. Actually, I usually feel like Tennyson's Ulysses does about Telemachus--he does his work, I mine.

Takoma Park, Md.: Something that's puzzled me lately: in the past, before TV (though that may a coincidence) there was lots of popular fiction that had generally happy endings and was, for lack of a better word, genial. Angela Thirkell, Daddy Longlegs, the Miss Read stories, etc etc etc.

These days, all regular popular fiction outside of romance novels seems to be very dark. Lots of sensationalism, lots of gratuituously unhappy endings.

What accounts for this, do you think?

Michael Dirda: The young prefer irony, darkness and despair. The happy and genial they will yearn for as they grow older. Since publishers are always thinking about the young these days, all the books are doleful.

New York, N.Y.: As far as Cornwell is concerned, I wish people would remember Paul West's The Women of Whitechapel, which was a really good and engrossing fictonal narrative exploring the Sickert-thesis.

Michael Dirda: I'd forgotten that.

Read the earlier chat: Oh please don't talk politics! I always looked forward to these chats as a sort of mental communion and the politics just smash that to bits. I was always well disposed towards Lenexa, Kan. and you but his endorsement of that "Not in our name" letter with the likes of Noam Chomsky and Susan Sontag just drives me nuts. If there is something political that you have considered and have to get off of your chest then so be it, but otherwise can't we just worry about books?

Michael Dirda: Yes and no. I'm a great believer in chats without walls. You may remember that a month or two back, we got off on--perhaps not the best verb choice--sex. I try to keep things relatively focused, but I am human, all too human. Politics is a large part of literature too. Just visit your local university and talk to a first year grad student.

Silver Spring, Md.: What a world, what a world.

Influential bestsellers were once Vonnegut and Brautigan. Now we get The Christmas Box and The Horse Whisperer and The Bridges of Madison County.

Lo, how the mighty have fallen.

Michael Dirda: Actually, I don't think our reading tastes are much different. Back then we also made best sellers of Rod McKuen's Stanyan Steet and Other Sorrows and Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Washington, D.C.: Looking for an inspirational kind of book on famous people with disabilities

ex: Helen Keller, Wiley Post, FDR, Peter Falk, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder etc.

What would you suggest?

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. Don't know of any off hand. Help anyone?

Chevy Chase, Md.: Didn't know you had a soon to be released memoir coming out. When, and what is the title? Also, heard somewhere you were going to take a sabbatical and write something else. When does that start and what is the subject matter?

Michael Dirda: I took the sabbatical last August-October. The memoir is called "An Open Book." Due out in November from Norton. Start ordering from AMazon now--I'll show that J.K. Rowling.

Washington, D.C.: Michael -- Re: books as therapy (Victorian novels as a refuge from the modern world), other possibilities could be Wodehouse (have you read all 90 or so books?) and a good mystery. Those are what I'm turning to right now on these gray days when we are getting ever closer to a senseless war.

Michael Dirda: I talk up Wodehouse's virtues so often I now get complains about it (and about myh fondness for John Dickson Carr's locked room mysteries). But I've promised my friend Dawn that I wouldn't brings these up anymore. As for the question: I own all of Wodehouse but have only read a dozen or so books.

Washington, D.C.: Looking for some good Fantasy/Sci-Fi books. Something that is not geared for children or tennagers (e.x. Harry Potter). I've read the Lord of the Rings and its companion books. Any reccomendations?

Michael Dirda: Tons of stuff. Read Jack Vance's The Dying Earth and The Eyes of the Overworld; Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, Philip K. Dick's Martian Time-Slip; Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness. Scores of others. Just avoid those unending fantasty and sf series.

Rockville, Md.: I need to buy a book for my 17 year-old nephew. Don't know anything about what he likes to read other than he read the Hardy Boys when he was younger. Any suggestions for me?

Michael Dirda: The Complete Sherlock Holmes.

Lancaster, Pa.: Perhaps now's the time to get out there and start that literary magazine you dreamed about a few weeks ago in BW. That way you'd need not write book reviews but could pursue those longer pieces in which you could make connections between Anna Karenina here and Sense and Sensibility there. Wish I could put you in touch with some benefactors; maybe there are some left in Oxford, Mississippi. In the meantime I'm sure most readers of BW are grateful for the poetry and genius you bring in these chats and in your BW writings.

Michael Dirda: Ah, poetry and genius. You know what Swift said, when he was old and picked up a copy of A Tale of a Tub: "What genius I had then!"

On the Road to Miltown: Ah, S.J. My dad's favorite, and one of mine too -- though for consistent laughs, I go for Mr. Wodehouse every time.

"My neck, normally a column of alabaster, reddened."

Right now, I'm re-reading the complete works of Agatha Christie, and compiling a list of my favorite lines. A most enjoyable task -- but I can't imagine why the Mary Westmacott novels were billed as "romances." They read like straight novels to me. Has the terminology changed that much?

Michael Dirda: I love Christie too--they are so very comforting, though the style is very plain. My favorite is The ABC Murders. My favorite Wodehouse line (and it would be) is: "He drank coffee with the air of a man who regretted it was not hemlock."

The Ardent:
Michael,

Thanks for making another writer's detour and having a chat with us! Hopefully the book project turns out well!

I just picked up the Magarshack translations of Gogol's Overcoat and others (The Nose and Terrible Vengeance are others, but it does not include Dead Souls). Any other collections/translations of Gogol that are worth purchasing?

Homer's Odyssey has me thinking about similar pursuits for Truth (knowing the minds of men) in a non-academic setting (a little restless thirst for adventure creeps in as well--Walter Mitty and Thoreau indeed). Any recommendations for such reading--fictional or otherwise? I read Christopher Phillips' Socrates Cafe, but what else is suitable apart from Plato and Aristotle and the like (e.g. does Bellow's Augie March count)?

Michael Dirda: The Ardent--that's such a strange sobriquet.
I've finished the book; it's being copy edited now.
Nabokov thought that the only good translation of Dead Souls was Bernard Gilbert Guerney's. And even that wasn't good enough for Vlad the Impaler.
Quests for truth? Ah, having mentioned VN you might try The REal LIfe of Sebastian Knight--a quest for the truth about another person.

Silver Spring, Md.: A slow reader? I have trouble believing that Mr. Dirda. I would assume you digest a few books a week. To the majority of us, I think, that is fast!

Now a question: I am a 20-something who has always liked things my peers do not (folk and classical music, "arty" movies, ect.) and I wholeheartedly agree with you that I do not want to be reading what one everyone else is reading. Yes I like Dave Eggers and Zadie Smith, like my peers do, but in reality they are much to "hip" for who I am. So what could you suggest to a very recent graduate who sees his life and all the possibilites expanding before him? Something age appropriate but outside the mainstream. Many thanks.

Michael Dirda: I am slow. I know people who read a book a day.
The most important books for a literary generation are those written not by the fathers (or mothers) of the previous generation but by the uncles (or aunts). Or go back to people who seem unlikely: Hemingway, for instance, is badmouthed all the time. Does he deserve it? Nobody reads anything byh Sherwood Anderson except Winesburg Ohio-are we missing something? Has Zora Neale Hurston made us forget about Jean Toomer? Whatever you've already liked, look for more of the same. Take home a dozen books from the library and read a few pages of each, continue with those who work their magic on you. There is really no answer to your question. Every reader must find his or her own way. But my memoir--paid announcement here--is the story of how one Reader--moi--found ihs particular way.

Sandusky, Ohio: A question to the Ohio native: What is the greatest novel by an Ohio writer? I would prefer that you not include "Winesburg, Ohio" in your deliberations, but if you wish to, by all means include away.

Michael Dirda: Gak. I just mentioned Winesburg in my previous listing. Of course the greatest Ohio novel is Malabar Farm, by Louis Bromfield. Just kidding. And I don't have a better suggestion.

Sacramento, Calif.: Hi Michael,

Can you recommend anyone's readings in Old English on CD? Looking for a little Beowulf or Seafarer for the freeway.

Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I used to have an old Caedmon record of someone reading just these things. Might still be around as a cd. Hwaet!

Dillsburg, Pa.: Iwas wondering if you know what my hero Alexander Theroux is up to lately. I just checked, and it's been 15 years or so since he published a novel. (And does anybody know if the Justin Theroux in David Lynch's "Mulholland Dr" is any relation? Sure looks a lot like Alexander.)

Michael Dirda: Don't know what Alex is up to. Wasn't there supposed to be a third book to go with the essays on The Primary Colors and The Secondary Colors? I think to be called Black and White? Don't know aobut Justin T, but those Theroux's get around.

New York, N.Y.: Have you heard of the movie, Stone Reader, that's touring the arthouse theater scene right now? It's a documentary in which the director tries to track down the author Dow Mossman, whose first novel, The Stones of Summer, was critically hailed when it was published in the early 1970s. Now, all traces of the book and its author (who never published again) have disappeared. The movie's coming to Film Forum next month.

I'm just wondering if you've heard of Dow Mossman or this book at all.

Michael Dirda: Sounds made up to me. At any event I've never heard of it. But have you heard of Gil Orlovitz's Milkbottle H? Once acclaimed the height of amdericna innovative fiction.

Sorry: If we listened to first year grad students Kants Critique of Pure Reason would be required high school reading. It is the rare first year grad student that can write a substantial piece of fiction or criticism. Not to mention that writers have a pretty embarrasing track record when it comes to politics.

Michael Dirda: First year grad students in English talk more about politics and isms than about literature. But that's their job, isn't it? Just as mine is to tell them to read more and they can then dismiss me as an old fart totally out of it.

Washington, D.C.: Would you recommend a newcomer to Philip Roth (I read Goodbye, Columbus years ago in college and nothing since) to start with the David Kapesh books or the Nathan Zuckerman books? Does it matter? Would you read them in chronological order? Am I making too big a deal about it?

Michael Dirda: Start with The Ghost Writer and then follow your bent.

Washington, D.C.: Two questions:

Who, in your opinion, is the world's most overrated "serious" writer?

Does anybody read George Meredith anymore?

Michael Dirda: There are no overrated serious writers.
Yes, Michael Moorcock, who reveres The Amazing Marriage. I also love the poems in Modern Love--"Oh what a dusty answer gets the soul when hot for certainties in this our life." Have tried the novels years ago without success. butI've always accounted this my failure.

Ohio native: Let's talk poetry instead.

Paul Michael Dunbar is one of the greatest US poets of the 20th centure, and arguably the greatest black poet in US history.

Michael Dirda: Ok. You won't get too many arguments here.

Takoma Park, Md.: Thanks for putting your finger on what's wrong with even the most deeply interesting and entertaining Creative NonFiction (in the Book Club). I've been struggling with that issue, and am happy to see it well delineated.

That said, I must recommend more David Lodge and Geoff Dyer novels to you. Eventful, interesting, some depth and some humor. Lodge is considered more literary, though I don't quite know why.

Michael Dirda: I love Lodge and have reviewed several of his books. Dyer may be too hip for me, or maybe I just envy his scruffy, thrill packed life.

Alexandria, Va.: Good afternoon, Mr. Dirda!

I have a question which you, with your unique talents, may be supremely qualified to answer.

I found a reference recently to a French author, Pierre Mac Orlan, who apparently wrote about Parisian low life between the wars. Have you ever read him? Has he anything in translation worth checking out? In my search I discovered a few names of other French hard-boiled crime novelists. Can you recommend any stand-outs that have been published in English?

Michael Dirda: I used to see MacOrlan's books in paperback in France, but never read any. All the crime novels in French that I remember were written by San Antonio or Exbrayat. But high class French crime fiction means Georges Simenon, slightly kinkier means Delacorta--both of whom have been translated.

Washington, D.C.: Any way to get a transcript of your talk with Joan Didion? I'm a huge fan of hers and would have attended had I not been traveling. Thanks in advance.

Michael Dirda: Doubt it. Don't htink it was recorded.

Columbia, Md.: Was fascinated by the last discussion on "perfect books" -- wanted to propose another book or two -- P.G. Wodehouse -- Summer Lightning for instance(and maybe another one or two of his). The discussion also made me ponder the issue of "perfection" and if limits (in scope, size, aim) are implied in "perfect" works -- War and Peace vs. Persuasion, say. Is there anything in this?

Michael Dirda: Well, it's a tricky question: small but perfect or ambitious but flawed-which is better? Happily we don't have to choose between them.
I'd say more, but lo, our time is up--and I've already written for an hour about Joan Didion earlier, so my fingers are tired. And I have to write a book review tonight after work. Where is my MacArthur grant already? Will no one release me from this vale of tears and constant work? (I don't mean by saying: Dirda, you're fired.))
Anyway, time is up. Check back next week on Thursday at 2 for more of this nonsense.

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