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Posts from the ‘Author Profiles’ Category

May 3

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Malcolm Lowry: Another Tortured Genius

If you thought Hemingway had issues, then you should read about the life of Malcolm Lowry.

During my routine research, I discovered this brilliant, in-depth New Yorker article about Lowry’s life, marriage, brutal alcoholism and drug addictions—and his genius mind that eventually succumbed to an early death.

After meeting Lowry at a party in which he was severely inebriated in New York, Dawn Powell said this: “He is the original Consul in [Under The Volcano], a curious kind of person—handsome, vigorous, drunk—with an aura of genius about him and a personal electricity almost dangerous, sense of demon-possessed.”

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Apr 5

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Carson McCullers Talks About Love

Three days ago, if you would have asked who Suzanne Vega was, I would’ve told you that she sang that catchy “doo-doo-doo” song from the early 90s about a restaurant…”Tom’s Diner” was the name of the song. You’d know it if you heard it.

Anyway, that’s all I knew about her. But, turns out, she’s made some waves in New York last year, starring in a one act play about Carson McCullers. The play, “Carson McCullers Talks About Love,” featured Vega as McCullers as she alternates between monologues and songs.

Vega’s website explains the play this way:

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Mar 16

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Stuff Jonathan Franzen Hates

Jonathan Franzen is an excellent writer. I loved the modern feel of The Corrections, and his 10 writing rules have generated a ton of traffic for this blog.

But let’s be honest: The guy comes off as a curmudgeon. He seems like an old grizzly curmudgeon who hates rainbows and doesn’t smile.

Franzen has been open about his disdain for ebooks (yeah, I’m not an ebook guy, but I’m not mean about it). He also hates Twitter and Facebook. All of this has been in the news again recently, when Franzen said this about Twitter (via The Guardian):

“Twitter is unspeakably irritating. Twitter stands for everything I oppose…It’s hard to cite facts or create an argument in 140 characters …It’s the ultimate irresponsible medium. People I care about are readers … particularly serious readers and writers, these are my people. And we do not like to yak about ourselves.”

The beauty of Twitter? People–obviously not Franzen’s “people”– immediately began poking at him, suggesting other things that Jonathan Franzen also hates because it seems like he hates a lot of things.

So that’s what today’s post is about. We know he hates Kindle, Facebook, and Twitter. What else does the curmudgeonish Jonathan Franzen hate?

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Feb 22

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14 Comments

David Foster Wallace’s 10 Favorite Novels

Yesterday, David Foster Wallace would’ve been 50. He’s one of the authors that I’ve slowly grown in appreciation for since I started this blog. And judging by my tag cloud on the home page, I’ve probably talked about him more than any other author.

When I think of an author like DFW, a guy who wrote the beastly novel that is Infinite Jest, I assume he must have been into heady novels like Ulysses, that his daily reading list probably consisted of Chaucer and Homer, that he would read Faulkner on his lunch break.

But maybe not. Before he died, DFW made a list of his top ten favorite books for a compilation of favorite books of famous writers. I’ve got to say—they aren’t quite what I expected from DFW, but that makes him all the more intriguing.

Here is his top 10:

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Feb 13

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12 Comments

Richard Wright Loved Haiku. What?

I’m not even sure where to start with this post. Apparently, Richard Wright, one of the preeminent writers of the 20th Century, author of Native Son, was really passionate about haiku.

I’m not a haiku kind of guy. For that matter, I’m not really into poetry that much either. Though I know they are a serious matter for the Japanese, I’ve always thought haiku were the little booger-faced brother of the literary world. So seeing Richard Wright so into them, enough to write an entire book of haiku (Haiku: This Other World), is, well…interesting.

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Jan 9

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12 Comments

Philip Roth Is Kinda Smart

I think Philip Roth is like the Gandalf of the literary community.

Forget about Updike. Forget about Atwood. Forget about “young” upstarts like Franzen.

Philip Roth is a wisdom machine. He spits out wisdom bombs like Rick Perry spits out stupidity. If Philip Roth had been Obi Wan Kanobi, Annakin Skywalker would’ve never went to the dark side. In the words of Antoine from that famous YouTube video, “now go and tell that, homeboy.”

So who is this Philip Roth of whom I glowingly speak?

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Dec 15

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29 Comments

Lolita: Inside The Mind Of A Pedophile

My first thought when I read about the subject matter in Lolita–Man, Vladamir Nabokov had to be one creepy pervert to write about that.

But after a little research (I stress “little”), I haven’t found much that would indicate Nabokov was a pedophile or anything like that. Perhaps he was a fan of baked goods, though.

In 1962, Nabokov said this in an interview with BBC:

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Nov 29

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11 Comments

Alan Moore Talks Superheroes

So it’s my understanding that Alan Moore is like the Obi Wan Kenobi of comic book writers. Or maybe he’s more like Anakin Skywalker with a creepy beard.

Anyway, the guy revolutionized the comic book genre when the Watchmen series began in 1985. He took the whole idea of superheroes as superhumans born on another planet, or implanted with superpowers by spiders, and flipped that idea on its head.

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Nov 21

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17 Comments

Kazuo Ishiguro On Clichés

Clichés are a writer’s sworn enemy.

They take up unneeded space, offer no originality and very little insight. But they’ve become clichés because everyone uses them, which makes it difficult for a writer to get out of that habit.

When it comes to clichés, I’m guilty as sin (Did you see what just happened there? The irony!) But I would expect more experienced, award-winning novelists to avoid clichés like the plague (Oh no. It happened again.)

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Oct 27

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16 Comments

Toni Morrison And The Art of Visual Writing

I’m a sucker for visual writing. When an author helps me really see a scene in my head, it’s easy for me to stay with the plot and care about the characters.

With Beloved, Toni Morrison creates absolutely beautiful visuals. If Morrison was a photographer, she’d be Ansel Adams. She’s good.

Take a look at this passage from Beloved. Sethe, the female protagonist, has just given birth to a child.

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