Which, okay, whatever. I mean, sure, new J-Franz is new J-Franz, and is cause for some joy. (There are those who know me as "The guy who likes Jonathan Franzen a lot", you see.) But yeah, it's not the J-Franz we the people want. I'm going to side with Edward Champion on this one: J-Franz and DFW need to strap on sets and get to work. On novels.
Novels, man. Novels.
Mind you, this is to say nothing against DFW's short stories and essays, nor Franzen's essay collection. There was fine material across these collections, quite enjoyable, good times were had while I read them. But I really do prefer the work they've done on larger canvases. And I'd love to see more of it. Before I forget how to read, I mean.
And hey, while you're at Mr. Champion's blog, check out our good friend Brown Trout's appearance in the comments. (By "good friend" I mean "he once commented here".) Then click through to his blog for more choice bits:
There's no story in her work yet, but good fiction always starts with images. The procession is like this: Image > Story > Character > Prose > Plot, with Story ultimately being most important. For more commercial work, it seems to go Plot > Character > Prose, leaving off Image and Story altogether in many cases. I've no problem with commercial or genre work, though I can't teach it and know absolutely nothing about it. It's as alien to me as screenplays and writing for television.
I like that, though I'm not sure how much I agree with the order. (By which I mean, I don't disagree, I just don't know yet.) Also, it's nice to see someone smart enough to know they're not smart enough about commercial work.
Also:
I told her that it [writer's block] doesn't exist. I said that what exists is an unwillingness to compromise. People don't get blocked, they just choose not to write garbage. You can always write garbage. Writing garbage takes discipline, though. If you write enough of it eventually you crawl out of the hole you're in.
Which, well, just...yeah.
3 comments:
I enjoyed The Corrections (the only Franzen novel I've read) so, as I tend to do, I sought out other works of his. The only thing available at the library at the time was a collection of essays (which I'm guessing was How to Be Alone, based on a quick Amazon search, but I actually don't remember) and it bored me senseless.
I was bummed out by this, and ceased my seeking.
When I have more time to read actual books again, I may have to rethink the cessation. Though, I guess I'll stick to the novels and skip this memoir.
Someone.stop.the.god.damn.memoirs.
Stop them! Now.
Stop stop stop stop stop. Memoir die! DIE. die.
No one gives a fuck about when your dog died and your creepy great uncle, your first love, your first shitty teen angst poem (except the NYTBR, various other lesser newspapers and the general public if sales are anything to go by). but BESIDES them. NOBODY. STOP THE MEMOIRS.
*deep breath*
Thanks for giving me the space to rant Darby, I feel a lot better. *twitch*
Mel--Yeah, How to Be Alone is the essay book. I actually never read the whole thing, I think. I liked what I read.
And I actually haven't read both his other novels. I have The 27th City on my pile, and I did read Strong Motion, which I liked, though not as much as I liked The Corrections.
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