Among The Jumbled Heap

Orhan Pamuk and Politics

Every Tuesday I work late.  This means my commute to and from work takes place during an NPR dead time.  To compensate I listen to this podcast: http://www.cbc.ca/writersandcompany/ .  I like Eleanor Wachtel's accent as well as her Nancy Reagan hair.  I also like the writers she interviews.  There's a great one with Coetzee where he only agrees to the interview when Eleanor consents not to ask him about his personal life, his novels, or South African politics.  Even with these restrictions, it's...

Moby Dick: the Boring Parts

What follows is a rambling missive that I wrote over a year ago for the blog but never finished. I am now throwing it out into the world for no good reason. Last night, or rather, early this morning, I finished reading Moby Dick for the second time. Often, I had wanted to read Moby Dick again but was prevented from doing so by that same perception of the book that keeps many from reading for the first time, viz. The Boring Parts. Moby Dick begins with the classic line "Call me Ishmael," ...

Martini Lips

In the 20th century, it was fashionable for awhile for men to sell plot short in relation to character. Character-driven literature was seen as superior to plot-driven narrative. That may have been because the male literary elite attempted nothing more strenuous than lifting martinis to their lips and jumping their friend's wives. (I think, particularly, of John Updike) From Carolyn See Making a Literary Life