Posts filed under ‘READER’S OPPORTUNITIES’
THE NOVEL by JAMES A. MICHENER
Just finished reading The Novel by James A. Michener. I’ve read many of his works, my favorite is The Source, a book dealing with the excavation of a well in the Middle East and detailing the life of the people surrounding the well from ancient times to the present.
Michener, who died in 1997 at the age of 90, published The Novel in 1991, but it was far from being his last book. The work, divided into four parts The Writer, The Editor, The Critic and The Reader explores the publishing world of a different era. The world of publishing has changed a great deal since Michener wrote this book and continues to rapidly change with self-publishing and social media becoming important tools for today’s authors. In Michener’s story, the editor plays a significant role in the life of the author and the progression of his career. Having never been published by a major house, yet, I don’t know if that portrayal holds true today.
The section of this novel which I found most interesting was that of the critic, Karl Streibert. He finds the work of the main author in the book, Lucas Yoder, shallow and not worth reading. The funny thing is that the work of Lucas Yoder reminds me of Michener’s. The critic judges Yoder’s work as to accessible, fit only for the common reader, and is of the opinion that writers should write for the reading elite, intellectuals who demand the highest quality and deepest thought.
This lofty insight reminds me of a comment I once read in Poet & Writers where the poetry of Billie Collins was considered mediocre because it was too accessible. I happen to find Collins’ poetry extremely enjoyable. I wonder what that says about me.
A difference in values is what makes life interesting, and at times argumentative. I strongly suggest reading James A. Michener’s The Novel.
LOLITA by VLADIMIR NABOKOV
Some time ago I decided to straighten up my study, a Herculean endeavor to be sure. The picture I’m using for my blog was taken after that effort.
While accomplishing this, I came across books I did not know I possessed, some classics, some not so classic. These books were given to me some time ago. I never pass a chance to own a book, especially a free one.
One of these finds was a paperback copy of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. My copy was published in 1959 with the price of 50 cents. This is truly a classic of the last century, and I just finished reading it.
Surprisingly, it’s quite funny with a tongue-in-cheek humor throughout. The language is exceedingly mild especially compared to today’s literature. It’s the subject matter which stops you in your tracks, making you uncomfortable at times. The author has done a fine job in accomplishing this atmosphere.
He has a gift for entering the mind of the character and defining his high level of perversion. Although perverted, along the way you begin to feel some sympathy for the character for he fully understands what he is doing and, towards the end of the novel, is aware of what he has done to his ward’s life.
If you don’t mind the discomfort, I recommend you give this novel a try. Don’t be put off by the book’s reputation or age. It is an excellent read.
AND SO IT GOES KURT VONNEGUT: A LIFE by CHARLES SHIELDS
If you’ve read Slaughterhouse – Five: A Children’s Crusade and enjoyed the hell out of it as I did, you owe it to yourself to read this biography and get to know the man behind the work. Reading about Vonnegut’s life and his journey on the rocky road to fame gives you a background into the birth of his novels and will encourage you to read more. I plan to seek out Breakfast of Champions and Cat’s Cradle to my to-read list. One event described in the book that deeply affected Vonnegut’s family life was the death of his brother-in-law in 1958 and I have a vivid memory of that tragic accident for I visited the site shortly after it happened. A train bound for New York was about to cross the Newark-Bayonne Bridge over the Newark Bay. The bridge was open for a passing barge, and as the train approached to open bridge the engineer suffered a heart attack. The fireman tried to stop the train but couldn’t. Two engines and three passenger cars plunged into the bay with the loss of 47 lives. I still recall pictures published in Life magazine taken while the cars were being raised from the water with bodies hanging from the windows. Published photos were more graphic back then. Perhaps it was the next day when, after school, I walked to the local library annex, one of my favorite places. I was eleven. The library was a short distance from school and it feels like kids had more freedom then, even in a rough town like Newark you were able to wander on your own. After settling in, my sister found me and said my family was outside in our car and that I should come along. They were heading for the train wreck. As were approached the bridge there were cars parked all along the road. Coming upon the scene I remember one car still dangling from the track and partially in the water. Everything else was still submerged. Sorry for the digression. Vonnegut’s brother-in-law’s wife, the writer’s sister, died the same day and Vonnegut wound up supporting their four sons. I took a little detour with the above memory, but once again, this is a biography worth reading.
VISIONS OF GERARD BY JACK KEROUAC
If you’ve never read anything by Kerouac do yourself a favor – begin with On the Road and work your way through his works.
I’ve read a few of his books, but that was some time ago. I’ve now reentered Kerouac’s world with Visions of Gerard. It’s the first book in his series, The Duluoz Legend, and I guess I’m now along for the ride. The series is fourteen books long with Dr. Sax as the next in line and I’m lucky enough to own a copy I bought years ago.
But first, back to Visions of Gerard. This short novel is on long stream of thought with a story line of the narrator’s brother’s death woven in. I’m not an authority, but I don’t think there is anyone currently using this technique.
To be in the mind of Jack Kerouac would be as if you were the silver ball in a pinball machine. You know you’re on the move but not sure of the destination.
PUBLISHING UPDATE
At the beginning of the year I outlined my goals. One was to publish some of my previously published work.
I’ve been working on getting some of my published poems back out there and just found out one has been accepted by Still Crazy which is both a print and online publication.
I’ll give more details when it appears.
THE STARS MY DESTINATION by ALFRED BESTER
I’m trying to include in my science fiction reading some of the classic works by some past authors in the genre. Science fiction has been with us long enough that it has a history we can follow and chart the progress of the genre incorporating prediction of the future and science fact, observing when fact becomes fact.
The book I presently wish to discuss is The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester copyrighted in 1956.
In this work we find the main character, Gully Foyle, marooned on a derelict spaceship, its sole survivor. He thinks he is about to be saved when he spies an approaching spacecraft. He signals, but they just pass him by. Able to read the name of the craft, Vorga – T – 1339, his mind is consumed with the desire to revenge this abandonment. This becomes the overwhelming theme of the book.
Through the remainder of the book he survives by the twists and turns of fate and ultimately discovers why the spacecraft passed him by. The ship was about to dump 600 refuges into the blackness of space on the orders of the woman he falls in love with once he returns to earth, not knowing that she was the cause of his abandonment.
An interesting process introduced in this work is ‘jaunting’. This is the ability to think yourself to another location discovered by an individual caught in a precarious situation. He thinks of the safety of another location and suddenly finds himself there much to his surprise. However, this ability is limited by the fact that you must know the coordinates of the location you want to go to. You cannot go to the unknown, but Foyle somehow can.
THE GREEN BRAIN by FRANK HERBERT
The Green Brain another science fiction novel by one of the giants of the genre.
This novel deals with a subject overly used today, many times in the guise of making a profit. Right or wrong, that is my opinion. The subject Herbert deals with long before it was in vogue is the environment.
My paperback copy was published in 1966, with part of the story appearing in 1965 in Amazing Stories as a novelette, Greenslaves.
The story begins with the world wanting to protect the production of food from destruction by insects. Countries begin to eliminate all insects in farm areas and then populate the land with genetically altered bees. China is at the forefront of this effort and one of its scientists, Chen Lhu, travels to Brazil to assist in insect elimination. What he doesn’t reveal until far into the story is that the process does not work. This revelation only comes to light after he and other scientists are trapped in the jungle by strange insect populations. These insects, along with other bizarre occurrences are put into play by the green brain. This intelligence has the ability to manipulate insects and much more.
Herbert’s novel predates real world efforts to manipulate the environment with nonnative plant and animal species in order to control some condition in the habitat that man finds troublesome. More times than not the cure is worse than the problem.
One interesting sideline not pursued to a great extent but mentioned is the existence of a group of environmentalists called Carsonites.
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962.
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