ANOTHER RAMBLING SELF-INDULGENT POST YOU CAN SKIP...
IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR MORE HOUSE PIX, UPDATES OR DRIFTWOOD RELATED NEWS, COME BACK ANOTHER TIME WHEN THERE MAY BE SOME
Free associating as the day Drifts by...
Almost done with The Genius...with more and more of the narrative ringing familiar bells in terms of my own experiences (which should not suggest that I am relating to the idea of genius in myself since the title is more ironic than literal in Dreiser's intent) in the world of New York advertising and media related commerce.
Read Franzen's The Corrections a few years back, or I tried to. The first hundred pages wore me out and I put it down before losing all will to live.... and therefore have no desire to read Freedom. Dreiser was criticized for his tin ear, polemical digressions and pedestrian style...but his voice is positively poetic compared to Franzen. And I didn't care about any of Franzen's characters--which one can argue is the point since the whole thing is meant to be an over-the-top satire and dispassionate commentary on the contemporary American values system. But to me, satire requires even more attention to establishing the ring of human truth than straight realism because without it, where's the humor? And caring for a character doesn't mean liking necessarily, it just means caring to know what's going to happen to them or seeing them get what's coming to them--whatever it is-- otherwise the characters become bloodless archetypes and then you might as well dispense with the whole imaginative narrative and just write a non-fiction sociological study.
Can't resist watching Baseball playoffs despite total lack of rooting interest in any of the teams. Trying to convince myself to pull for St. Lou, cause Pujols could be? may be? nah, forget it, no way he's gonna be...a Met. Something I like about Tony LaRussa too, but can't quite figure out what it is. He looks like such a pessimistic sourpuss--which come to think of it may be precisely what I like about him. Wish I felt like reading when I get home from work...but I never do, guess that explains why I'm watching Baseball.
Pix of the house from Marty, Renee, Woody, Karen visit are haunting my dreams. Last night I imagined a Gypsy Caravan pulling up to the property and making themselves at home in the still skeletal frame. My first reaction was disbelief and anger, but that softened as I came to be curious and admiring of their opportunistic resourcefulness. And there were musicians, jugglers, spiritualists and assorted eccentrics in the group who all seemed quite friendly and lively. Hope they're not still there.
Hip-Hop is dead. Or at least I'd like to think so.
Post modern is dead too. Or at least that's how it looks to me...
...and Franzen's success may be an interim step as a shift away from the self-consciously self involved to the self-consciously other involved. If the economy keeps tanking and the empire keeps cracking up on it's way to a giant crumbling, we may actually return to a world of traditional values and forms where the role of the artist is... " both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." *
My book group (all men, once a month, at a restaurant, we mostly eat and talk about things other than the book, and nobody ever likes the books I recommend) reading assignment this month is In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. Story of William Dodd, American Ambassador to Germany during rise of Hitler’s regime-- and most colorfully, his high-sprited, politically naive and wildly promiscuous daughter Martha who never met a Nazi she didn't schtupp. Lot of interesting historical detail and character portraits--but what lingers in the mind throughout is how the pure unadulterated fanatical hatred of The Jew was the single most volatile force that fanned the fire in Hitler's belly, and the speed at which that fire spread to an entire nation of willing collaborators. The book is too narrow in scope to explore this issue in greater depth, but Woody (fellow Drifter) has read many of the most scholarly and comprehensive histories on the period and I'm looking forward to discussing with him...and maybe borrowing some of his weighty tomes.
Funny Onion piece the other day with headline:
Historians Politely Remind Nation To Check What's Happened In Past Before Making Any Big Decisions
http://origin.theonion.com/articles/historians-politely-remind-nation-to-check-whats-h%2C26183/
*The Bard
Title may be overkill but did seem a bit drifty, except the baseball post. Dude, you could make a world class sports writer. Told you that years ago and still think so. Granted, that may seem an insider comment based on one paragraph, Okay, but for me it's the one section here that sings out here with real confidence (with absolutely no fanfare, you establish your knowledge of the subject), hope, vulnerability (as in the hint that you know you may not be totally right but are willing to go out on a line) and real joy. Write more about sports. My bet is it will bring out your innate genius as an observer. Without pushing what we all suffer - spleen - the heat of passion which too often melts our eye sight. Or forces us into observations which may be powerful but are a bit dragged down by all that surrounds them. This on the other hand...
ReplyDeleteTrying to convince myself to pull for St. Lou, cause Pujols could be? may be? nah, forget it, no way he's gonna be...a Met. Something I like about Tony LaRussa too, but can't quite figure out what it is. He looks like such a pessimistic sourpuss--which come to think of it may be precisely what I like about him.
Now that's a song that gets even this non-baseball fan suddenly very interested. Cool.
Thanks Jonathan for the advice, critique, appreciation et. al. and thanks for reading this far back in time.
ReplyDeleteBut as for more sports writing, I'm not sure I can orient my posts in any direction other than whichever way my daily wind blows. Never plan any posts, just follow my instincts when time is available and trust the rest to fate.