Any specific questions or topics that my readers would like answered/discussed in this space? Let me know! I promise to be very truthful.
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comments:
Anonymous
said...
what are you reading these days (non-poetry)?
me...roberto bolano's Last Evenings on Earth, tim harford's The Undercover Economist, ynot diaz's Drown, mary gaitskill's Don't Cry, and longest's Health Policy Making in the United States (2nd ed).
other questions...for this exercise you have to imagine it's early morning and you're sitting on a bench outside the Libreria de Cristal. it's you, Pablo Neruda, and me. he's wearing a straw hat and has a Bali cigarette hanging from his bottom lip...(you're in a navy blue sari)
here are Neruda's questions...
question 1: name an artist (or artists) in any discipline (film, acting, fiction, poetry) you've outgrown? meaning, you loved their work 3-7 years ago, and now you're not so high on them (and maybe you wouldn't admit to guests at a dinner party, even under penalty of perjury, that you used to eat up a particular artist's work).
question 2: name an artist (or artists) in any discipline who, in your estimation, is particularly overrated. (offensively so.)
question 3: a quietly unappreciated or underappreciated artist/poet.
in regards to reading, i just finished White Tiger, and have been reading/providing feedback on my dear friend's first novel. it's not just any novel. there's some (very) exciting news hidden behind it and i wish i could elaborate further but i'm probably not allowed to, i'm afraid. an anthology of short stories titled "my mistress's sparrow is dead," is another book that i very much enjoyed recently. have you gotten a chance to read junot diaz's interview in Narrative? it's fantastic.
the beach with neruda and you: artist i've outgrown. music: jewel. i was one of her biggest fans many years ago when she came out with her first/second album and used to hold gigs in local dc joints while i still lived there. i will always have a soft spot for her and still love her old songs. and that's that.
literature: perhaps chitra divakaruni? i enjoyed her first couple novels but don't think i'll be craving her work anytime in the foreseeable future. overrated-- jhumpa lahiri. then there are the usuals (dan brown-esque writers, etc). not sure if j.m. coetzee or anita brookner get me insanely excited either, although i do appreciate their writing and was entirely ready and willing for them to.
underrated musician: damien rice. he's amazing. poet, think they're definitely appreciated in the poetry world but no amount of appreciation would be enough, in my humble opinion, for these poets: dorianne laux, jack gilbert, mark doty, stephen dobyns, mary oliver. this list is in no way comprehensive.
yeah, i remember the narrative interview of Junot Diaz (i misspelled his name in my earlier message)... i liked when Diaz made the analogy between the market crash and the imbalance between writers and readers (i.e. we're a nation of writers who could care less about reading period, much less reading good work). he made a comment that instead of having MFA's for writers perhaps there should be an MFA for readers...
outgrown -- maybe edward hopper? i loved his paintings when i was younger, and, while i still admire his stuff, i've outgrown his aesthetic. music -- probably the smiths. though i think morrissey's current material still works for me.
overrated -- hmmm, i'm not in the mood to hate on anyone on this particular day, though i concur about lahiri. narrative had one of her short stories featured recently.
i have a general dislike for john updike's work (but that might be more personal). same with deepak chopra. he's not an artist, but i wish he'd stop writing books. (heh heh)
underrated -- music: fourtet.
i'd like to put in a vote for mickey rourke's body of work as an actor from 1980-1989, culminating in his turn as Frank Chinanski/Charles Bukowski in Barfly. he had some great creative instincts (e.g. Pope of Greenwich Village).
i'd also like to mention Victor Nunez's work as writer/director of Ruby In Paradise.
other writers... Sherwood Anderson (Winesburg, Ohio), Denis Johnson (Jesus’ Son), Doctorow (Ragtime, World’s Fair), Sergei Dovlatov (he had a story on the NYer podcast that was amazing. from a collection called Ours: A Russian Family).
5 comments:
what are you reading these days (non-poetry)?
me...roberto bolano's Last Evenings on Earth, tim harford's The Undercover Economist, ynot diaz's Drown, mary gaitskill's Don't Cry, and longest's Health Policy Making in the United States (2nd ed).
and be truthful...
#2
other questions...for this exercise you have to imagine it's early morning and you're sitting on a bench outside the Libreria de Cristal. it's you, Pablo Neruda, and me. he's wearing a straw hat and has a Bali cigarette hanging from his bottom lip...(you're in a navy blue sari)
here are Neruda's questions...
question 1: name an artist (or artists) in any discipline (film, acting, fiction, poetry) you've outgrown? meaning, you loved their work 3-7 years ago, and now you're not so high on them (and maybe you wouldn't admit to guests at a dinner party, even under penalty of perjury, that you used to eat up a particular artist's work).
question 2: name an artist (or artists) in any discipline who, in your estimation, is particularly overrated. (offensively so.)
question 3: a quietly unappreciated or underappreciated artist/poet.
#2
I personally would like to know how you are so amazing. Can you please discuss? Thanks.
#2,
in regards to reading, i just finished White Tiger, and have been reading/providing feedback on my dear friend's first novel. it's not just any novel. there's some (very) exciting news hidden behind it and i wish i could elaborate further but i'm probably not allowed to, i'm afraid. an anthology of short stories titled "my mistress's sparrow is dead," is another book that i very much enjoyed recently. have you gotten a chance to read junot diaz's interview in Narrative? it's fantastic.
the beach with neruda and you:
artist i've outgrown. music: jewel. i was one of her biggest fans many years ago when she came out with her first/second album and used to hold gigs in local dc joints while i still lived there. i will always have a soft spot for her and still love her old songs. and that's that.
literature: perhaps chitra divakaruni? i enjoyed her first couple novels but don't think i'll be craving her work anytime in the foreseeable future.
overrated-- jhumpa lahiri. then there are the usuals (dan brown-esque writers, etc). not sure if j.m. coetzee or anita brookner get me insanely excited either, although i do appreciate their writing and was entirely ready and willing for them to.
underrated musician: damien rice. he's amazing. poet, think they're definitely appreciated in the poetry world but no amount of appreciation would be enough, in my humble opinion, for these poets: dorianne laux, jack gilbert, mark doty, stephen dobyns, mary oliver. this list is in no way comprehensive.
now. same questions go for you. go.
yeah, i remember the narrative interview of Junot Diaz (i misspelled his name in my earlier message)... i liked when Diaz made the analogy between the market crash and the imbalance between writers and readers (i.e. we're a nation of writers who could care less about reading period, much less reading good work). he made a comment that instead of having MFA's for writers perhaps there should be an MFA for readers...
outgrown -- maybe edward hopper? i loved his paintings when i was younger, and, while i still admire his stuff, i've outgrown his aesthetic. music -- probably the smiths. though i think morrissey's current material still works for me.
overrated -- hmmm, i'm not in the mood to hate on anyone on this particular day, though i concur about lahiri. narrative had one of her short stories featured recently.
i have a general dislike for john updike's work (but that might be more personal). same with deepak chopra. he's not an artist, but i wish he'd stop writing books. (heh heh)
underrated -- music: fourtet.
i'd like to put in a vote for mickey rourke's body of work as an actor from 1980-1989, culminating in his turn as Frank Chinanski/Charles Bukowski in Barfly. he had some great creative instincts (e.g. Pope of Greenwich Village).
i'd also like to mention Victor Nunez's work as writer/director of Ruby In Paradise.
other writers...
Sherwood Anderson (Winesburg, Ohio), Denis Johnson (Jesus’ Son), Doctorow (Ragtime, World’s Fair), Sergei Dovlatov (he had a story on the NYer podcast that was amazing. from a collection called Ours: A Russian Family).
#2
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