To spend most of a day scouring search engines using your name (both of them) and web site as a search phrase and then coming back to a post dozens of times over the past two days to see if anything more has been commented upon strikes me as a bit obsessive.
Perhaps it’s time to give it a rest and move on?
I’m just saying.
Last night Jim Harrison revealed that Salt Lake City’s stop on his book tour was one of three planned and that this would be his last junket to promote a book. He seemed a bit frail to me in some respects and I felt it a privilege to be there watching a man who I consider to be an American national literary treasure. He read some passages from his newest book along with a couple of poems. It was quite a pleasure, really.
At one point he made mention of human geography, the study of the spatial distribution of human activity on the Earth’s surface. Paraphrasing, he said that the reasons of human distribution could range from economics to something as banal as love.
This was amusing to me. Those of you who know me well would understand.
Some of the most literate people I’ve ever known where those found in small hamlets and villages throughout the Rocky Mountain West before the advent of satellite TV. I remember as a child, while with my father, visiting a sheep herder in the remote wilds of Central Idaho and being astounded at the number of books that he had stashed away in every available space inside of his little camp wagon. He had books ranging from Louis L’Amour to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey along with various other works from the likes of Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, and even Wordsworth. This is not all together uncommon among the old timers of the area.
Because of the solitary, almost monkish existence of many of these people who wrangled cattle, herded sheep, fixed the fences, and rode the range, they had a literary understanding that I believe rivals that of many Ivy League literati types. Literature after all is quite organic. Someone spending an inordinate amount of time alone, embedded in the natural world is going to be in a position to deeply ponder what is read in a unique way. Keep in mind that many of these people had very little in the way of formal education.
My own father is an example of this. Having dropped out of school in the seventh grade during the Depression to work for the family, he is certainly not what you would call educated. He has lived a hard, often solitary, life of ranching and logging. Even so, he is very well read and is capable of carrying on a conversation of remarkable lucidity on a huge variety of subjects. Very much on par with anyone you are likely to meet. Of course it’s not unusual for the stereo type to be at odds with the reality. I’ve seen this many times, most people have.
Some years ago I was on plane making a final approach into Warsaw. People were already out of their seats and jockeying for position which lead to the flight attendants walking down the aisles imploring everyone to sit down and, once again, stash their carryon luggage. I remember an elderly woman with amazingly sparkling eyes sitting next to me, clutching her bag and acting as if she were warming up for a sprint. When the plane finally touched down, the passengers broke out in applause then headed for the exits. All the while, the plane was still speeding down the runway. At the time the applause was startling to me. My knowledge of Polish was limited to the signs above the restrooms and the word “kava” for coffee. I wondered if perhaps there was something near catastrophic going on of which I was not aware. Think about it; people in a fever-pitch hurry to get off of a plane and then breaking out in applause when it finally landed. In the states—and most of Western Europe for that matter—you will not see people clambering to position themselves. Usually, they will not even unlatch their seatbelts until the plane is at a complete stop, and the exiting process is quite calm. The point I’m making is that the stereo type is that Americans are always in a hurry and verge on rudeness in demonstrating their impatience. Generally speaking, Americans will go out of their way to exercise politeness and, with the exception of waiting to get inside of Wal-Mart to take part in a day-after-Thanksgiving sale, are remarkably unhurried while establishing a line.
Speaking of breaking out into applause when an airplane lands, as far as I know this appears to be a uniquely European thing. The first time that my wife—who is European—flew within the states, she almost broke out in applause on a plane full of Americans when it landed. When my mother-in-law visited last Fall from Europe, my wife informed her that Americans don’t applaud as if begging for an encore when the plan lands. The thought being that my wife could prevent her mother from experiencing any undo embarrassment, the type of which my wife had almost subjected herself to. Her mother was surprised that Americans don’t applaud upon landing. Her reply was, “Ungrateful Americans” to which my reply was a immense amusement and the acknowledgment that she could very well have a point.
I must admit that although the reviews are mixed, I do have an urge to check out 300. I mean, look at the pic. Any movie still-photo showing a bunch of Spartan warriors standing in front of a mountain of bodies can't be all bad, can it? Also, I'm wondering, did they hit up every Golds Gym in the country for their extras?
The Battle of Thermopylae has always been of interest to me. After all, many historians view the battle as the pivotal moment in Western civilization.
And with a mountain of dead bodies, one wonders how you can go wrong.
I’ve read all of his works with the exception of The Summer He Didn’t Die, and Returning To Earth. Also, I haven’t read any of his poetry, but I’m talking novels and novellas. I think the collections in The Woman Lit By fireflies and Legends Of The Fall are my favorites.
I know that novellas seem to be anathema in the publishing world, but in many ways I prefer them to larger works. With our busy schedules and busy lives, the novella is a bite-sized chunk of literary goodness that one can read in a couple of sittings--lunch hours or bus rides. Jim Harrison is the master of the novella.
I’m just saying.
Well, sort of. He will be at a local book store tomorrow to do a reading and signing of his new book. Thanks, Justin, for the tip. Jim Harrison is one of my favorite authors and I’m going to be there for certain to witness the one-eyed madman personally.
I almost forgot about 1018 Press but when the owner posted a comment to this post--also, refer to this post--I just have to respond. You will notice that Sam, whose real name is James Kosub, has blocked the link from my site to 1018. Typical. This is the behavior that sparked this whole thing to begin with. See, James doesn’t get along well with criticism, even if it’s delivered in a civil and friendly manner. In fact if anyone links to his sites with ANY criticism, he blocks the link.
Anyway, his comment goes:
Daniel, I’m sorry to hear that you’ve taken a dislike to something on the forum, though I should point out that accusing some of intellectual dishonesty and outsized ego without evidence is pure troll behavior.
Please note that this is a comment to a post over two months old. See, James looked at his stats today and followed the link back to here. Also, note that I’ve made a total of, perhaps, five or six posts to the 1018 forum in the few months that I was active. Hardly trollish behavior. In fact, I’d go so far as to opine that his digging up old news as it were to be rather trollish.
He’s right when he says without evidence simply because he deleted the evidence. No worries though, I’ll tell it like it happened. On the 1018 forum, James Kosub posted a little missive that pointed to some bogus news release stating that the Bush administration was baring National Park Service employees from stating the real age of the Grand Canyon. I thought it rather interesting, but found out that it was false. I pointed this out in a friendly manner and used it as an attempted jumping point to a discussion about how people with an ideological bent--both left and right--can be duped into believing false information from both sides. I also pointed out examples of those on the right doing this. I find it an interesting topic in and of its self. Anyway, James didn’t like it. He took it personally and attacked me on his forum. I thought it rather bizarre behavior, and was quite shocked really. Though judging by the number of e-mails that I received from those pointing out that this is nothing new for James Kosub, I shouldn’t be shocked.
So, I private messaged James Kosub and apologized for somehow setting him off. There was no reply. His response was then to, on the same post, attack me some more and then close the post so that I could not respond. Now, that’s some intellectual honesty there, James. During this whole time I received several e-mails from people who had experience with James Kosub informing me that this was his typical “control freak” behavior.
Anyway, I was rather shocked at the outright absurdity of it all and posted a couple of posts about it--I link to both of them up top--stopped going to the 1018 Press forums, and forgot about it. That was over two months ago and now James Kosub found the posts and he left the comment and blocked links to 1018 Press from this site.
James, I do accuse you of intellectual dishonesty. I’ll also add intellectual cowardice as well.
James Kosub continued with:
Further, posting such baseless attacks after receiving a rejection isn’t a great way to improve your own reputation. Editors and publishers in the small-press realm do communicate with one another.
I’m assuming that this veiled threat is in response to my posting on this blog:
He replied with a snide, childish remark fueled by ego rather than common sense, and within three minutes, yes three minutes I got an e-mail rejection for the piece I had sent in.
Coincidence? Perhaps. In fact, I’m going to go on the record with it was coincidence.
Oh, James Kosub, I’m sure editors and publisher in the small press realm do communicate with each other, but I’m sure you’re not part of that circle. Even if you are, I still wouldn’t change a thing. You have your own rep to worry about. Oh yeah.
I like some science fiction, but I’m not what you would call a huge fan. I’m very particular about the science fiction that I read. I’m not particularly fond of the space faring variety, with aliens and colonial empires spread throughout the galaxy, warp drive, and what-not. I can’t explain it, but for the most part I just can’t get into it.
Of the science fiction books that I do find myself being attracted to, they are mostly post apocalyptic/ apocalyptic. Things like Lucifer’s Hammer, The Rift, and the stunning Earth Abides. I suppose the pattern here is stories of survival during great change and upheaval. For me, humanity struggling to survive is the ultimate drama and always makes for a good story. Plus, these types of stories seem quite plausible, perhaps even probable. I’m more able to wrap my head around them because of this; at least much more than I am concerning stories about colonial galactic empires and bars full of aliens.
Notice that I didn’t include The Stand in my examples of apocalyptic stories. It’s because I didn’t really care for it. I know, all of you Stephen King fans are falling out of your chairs right now. I did enjoy the story up until the mystical, good vs evil aspect was introduced. It was at that point that it faltered for me.
I will admit some hypocrisy here because I do find alien invasion stories of an apocalyptic nature quite entertaining. For example, Footfall I believe is a great story. Keep in mind that the aliens that invade took thousands of years to get here because they didn’t have a warp drive switch to throw and they were still firmly grounded in the laws of physics as they are understood presently. Also, in this story, it all goes back to the human drama.
I’ve noticed that often times, the theme of post apocalyptic stories are about attempting to rebuild civilization. In Earth Abides, that is the protagonists main drive although ultimately he settles for something less. That theme is present in Eternity Road as well with humanity trying to rediscover the secrets of the Ancients (we being the Ancients). That theme is revisited in the Deathlands series of books as well only with a super dose of testosterone (as far as I can tell from only reading the first book of the series).
One of the best post apocalyptic books to visit the rebuilding civilization theme is The Postman. The book is great, but by all means avoid the film version of it. For what Kevin Costner did to that book, he should have been taken out back behind the woodshed.
One of my very favorite books of the post apocalyptic genre does not contain characters who are trying to rebuild what once was. In Through Darkest America we see an America several hundred years after an unnamed apocalypse that doesn’t give two cents about what was. This is a world transformed and beating its own path, no matter how disturbing and dark that past may be. This book is amazingly epic in scale at only 256 pages. Why some Hollywood type hasn’t made this book into a mini-series for HBO or Show Time is beyond me.
But someone should be.
One thing I’ve wondered for some time is why there has never been a big-budget film take on Genghis Kahn. I know, we have this gem, but for some reason I just can’t get too excited about John Wayne sporting a Fu Manchu. I’ll pass, thank you.
Nah, I’m talking of a real, honest to God, big budget flick that tries to adhere somewhat to historical fact. Personally, I think that Genghis Kahn was one of the most interesting people in history.
On his blog, science fiction writer John Scalzi discusses his writing income for 2006. It pretty interesting.
One thing of note is that he started his writing career in 1999 with a shareware novel. What this means is he published a novel on his website to be freely read by anyone who wished to do so.
Oh yeah, I’m still here.
A great quote by Annie Proulx:
I don’t think of stories around women. And that’s undoubtedly, in these days of political correctness, an enormous flaw in my character. But, baby, that’s how it is.
This was in response to a question about why she showed more sympathy with male characters than female characters. It just goes to show you that a silly question does not always produce a silly answer.
This last weekend, Anna and I went to the Sundance Film Festival with Justin and his wife Julee. I kicked myself for failing to remember to bring my camera. Believe me, there are a lot of reasons to bring a camera to Sundance. I suppose I should qualify “Sundance Film Festival” with the fact that we didn’t go see any films, but rather, we went to Park City and traipsed around. Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of Park City during Sundance is the people watching, hence the need to take a camera.
Also, I know that Justin was armed and prepared to commit subversive acts, but I don’t think he got around to it. It may have been a waste of time, but looking back on it, I wish we would’ve made a way to make it happen. Anyway, I’m thinking that while wandering up the West Coast this July there will be plenty of opportunities for subversive activity.
Don’t you think?
Brian Boyd writes this scathing yet interesting article concerning the current state of Western university literature departments.
We love stories, and we will continue to love them. But for more than 30 years, as Theory has established itself as “the new hegemony in literary studies” (to echo the title of Tony Hilfer’s cogent critique), university literature departments in the English-speaking world have often done their best to stifle this thoroughly human emotion.
He is especially hard on Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Harvard English professor, Louis Menand, whose idea of reform for university literature departments draws this reaction from Professor Boyd:
The position you represent has neither the intellectual nor the moral high ground you are so sure it occupies. Until literature departments take into account that humans are not just cultural or textual phenomena but something more complex, English and related disciplines will continue to be the laughingstock of the academic world that they have been for years because of their obscurantist dogmatism and their coddled and preening pseudo-radicalism. Until they listen to searching criticism of their doctrine, rather than dismissing it as the language of the devil, literature will continue to be betrayed in academe, and academic literary departments will continue to lose students and to isolate themselves from the intellectual advances of our time.
Ouch.
I suppose his basic argument is that the literary elite believe that culture is separate from our biology; that somehow, human culture is beyond our natural, biological selves. They believe that empirical thinking somehow inhibits culture and creativity. It’s a common notion of anti-foundationalism. Boyd argues that culture is a product of our biology; nature if you will. That the empirical approach has enhanced culture and the humanities.
I, like others who think that humans need to be understood as more than cultural or textual entities, do not wish to affirm the status quo. But in the four decades since Menand’s “greatest generation,” science and technology have altered the status quo far more radically than anything literature professors have managed. By increasing the world’s food output dramatically, scientists have saved hundreds of millions of people from hunger.
Their labor-saving devices have freed scores of millions from domestic drudgery and allowed countless women into the paid work force. They have raised life expectancy around the world. And if knowledge is indeed power, as Michel Foucault says, then through the Internet, scientists have made possible the greatest democratization of power ever.
He’s right. In fact I’d go so far as to say that the current state of humanities could not exist without the empirical process; foundationalism if you will. Hell, you can believe all you want, but everything that we are, the universe in fact, does not operate on belief. How can one expect to fully realize and benefit from the life we live without an empirical approach? Those who espouse anti foundationalism are, in my opinion, simpletons who lack the imagination needed to view the world as it really is. Think about it, how silly and banal is I think, therefore I am? Yo, René, smoke another one ...
What strikes me is the sheer arrogance of some of the so-called culture elites.
Menand is sure that: (1) the “greatest generation” secured for its “disciples” (these are his terms) the intellectual and moral high ground; (2) the insights of anti-foundationalism would be accepted by all other disciplines, if only they would listen; and (3) the crusade made possible by an understanding of “difference” must continue.
Now, what kind of happy horse pucky is that?
And, alas, here is the money line:
The idea that there is no universal truth runs into crippling difficulties straightaway, since it claims to be a universal truth.
Yeah, this is a real shooting-war between science and the humanities.
Last night I read Ernest Hemingway’s story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place and was taken aback by this beautiful passage:
They sat together at a table that was close against the wall near the door of the café and looked at the terrace where the tables were all empty except where the old man sat in the shadow of the leaves of the tree that moved slightly in the wind. A girl and a soldier went by in the street. The street light shone on the brass number on his collar. The girl wore no head covering and hurried beside him.
Reading this made me smile. It’s not often you see such contrast as Hemingway was capable of producing. He starts out with this long run-on sentence that would make most writing gurus faint and then follows it up with three shorter—almost staccato—sentences that shift the focus of the scene, allowing for a smooth transition back to the two waiters having a conversation inside of the café.
“The guard will pick him up,” one waiter said.
“What does it matter if he gets what he’s after?”
To me, it’s dramatically cinematic in a modern sense, which is ironic in that the story was written over 70 years ago.
My wife and I have managed to make to the Sundance Film Festival every year for the past five years or so. This year will be no exception and, as usual, I’m very much looking forward to it. We’ll meet at my house, Justin?