Impressions: "The Names" by Don DeLillo

An American writer, James Axton, living in Greece in the early 1980s who has the talent to write great works of fiction but ended up writing risk analysis reports for a business that issues insurance to corporations at risk of terrorist attack in the Middle East and North Africa.  He is estranged from his wife and young son and is generally living the life of a lonely and unhappy expatriate. Among his circle of friends is a man named Owen, who in his twilight years has a fascination with language, symbols and signs.  It is through Owen that James learns of a fundamentalist cult who sees language as an instrument of oppression and they rebel against it by killing people. Since people are carriers of language, by killing them you destroy their capacity to use language. 

This is only part of the story here. Language, the politics of Empire, the intricacies of relationships, all of this comes together in a very complicated but thoroughly enjoyable read.  This is not an easy read. There are such complex issues and connections here that you have to take your time with it, ingest it, but DeLillo’s prose style is such that it doesn’t bog the reader down with “heavy” leaden prose. He brings you right along, particularly his strength in character development, itself very complex.  

This is only the second novel by Don DeLillo that I have read and I’m definitely impressed and it seems his style by this point had grown by leaps and bounds since his debut, “Americana.”  He is clearly a writer I look forward to reading more of and I would highly recommend this book. Keep in mind it is not an easy “beach read.”  Although there are elements of a thriller here, it is more in the background, behind all the complex explorations of the nature and politics of language.  

Rating: * * * * * 

New Short Story eBook: "The Art of Nothing"

My new short story eBook, "The Art of Nothing" is now available in ePub and Kindle Editions. Just follow the links for more information. 

The Process of Weeding Out: Adventures in the Twitterverse

I’m the first to admit that I am probably not all that well versed in the social media thing but I have been utilizing it for many years now. For writers and other artists it’s almost a no-brainer these days if you want some kind of internet presence and/or a way to help promote your work and get the word out about what you do, especially if you’re an independent artist. Whether your a writer published by a major house or the writer who releases his/her own material, chances are you have some sort of web presence: a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter profile, or whatever else. It’s just part of the game right now and from what I’ve been noticing, even the “biggies” are expecting their authors to establish themselves on the web in some form or another to take some of their own responsibility to promote their own work and have a hand in building their audience. 

I’ve had all these things for years now and for me it’s worked. By establishing a web presence I’ve been able to not only sell some books but to also meet others who’s interests are in line with my own and in the process met some very interesting, wonderful people. That was always another reason why I have these pages - to meet others around the world who share my interest in music, literature, art, and whatever else and I have, plenty of them and a lot of these people have work of their own which I think should be read, looked at or listened to. There are a lot of very talented people out there doing some very interesting work and these social media platforms allows for them to rise above obscurity, or at the very least the level of obscurity they would be if society not had these platforms, much like it was 20 years ago.  It really has changed the game in a big way. I hate to use the word “game” but for some people, that’s precisely what this all is. A huge game - and once you participate in it, you are blessed with seeing all the levels of professionalism a lot of artists have or extreme lack thereof. Often, it’s a process of weeding out. 

Case in point: It was only fairly recently that I starting using Twitter. I had an account there for some time but never really utilized it, mainly because I really didn’t “get it.” At first it just seemed to be a bunch of people “tweeting” fairly irrelevant things about their daily lives - and I just didn’t get it. But I started to use it again and once I “got it” it began to become a resource that I find very important if you are an artist looking to meet other likeminded people and help promote your work. I use it in the same manner in which I use all the others: a sort of combination of personal and professional. If anyone is on these sites because they like what I do, I encourage them to make personal contact. I’m open. Most of the time, I know it’s only people who share an interest in something and it has nothing to do with my writing. That’s fair and fine and I don’t have any rules that that people have to be interested in it. Sometimes meeting good people who share common interests is good enough in and of itself. But Twitter, for the most part, seems to be aimed at those who try to pair down their interests to a specific area and often “follow” those people, artists, or organizations they want to keep in touch with. Twitter has come a long way from it’s early days. From being a platform for people to “tweet” about what they ate for breakfast in the morning to actually help bring about a revolution in the Middle East and elsewhere. Journalists now “tweet” and it’s become a much bigger thing than it once was. But in terms of this discussion, I’d like to keep it within the realm of artists using it to help further their careers. 

My “followers” have tripled on Twitter in the last year. Now I’m not naïve enough to believe that all these people are readers or even fans although the sales of my books have increased dramatically since I began utilizing it more. Most of the time people are seeking out others with common interests, some of them looking to promote themselves and sell their books. That’s fine. I get it. That’s the point, after all. I’m also not so naïve to believe that everyone you meet on there even cares about what you do. A lot of them are only interested in selling themselves and have no interest in you at all other than a potential customer. I get that too, although I’m not thrilled with that attitude so much. I like to connect with people, make it a little more personal, but you don’t have any control over this. You will watch your “followers” come and go just like on any other social networking site. 

With Twitter, though, I find it more interesting than the others because of the amount of spam and I guess what some people feel are “ingenious” marketing methods. Sometimes you’ll see a huge spike in your following, seemingly coming from out of nowhere. Usually the Twitter etiquette is to follow them back but I don’t know if this is written in stone or not - nor do I really care. I usually do (that is if it isn’t porn or obvious spam of some sort, or some other organization that I find reprehensible - like the strange increase in followers I got recently from right wing extremists, particularly of the evangelical variety, which I found highly amusing. They’re all gone now, now that I didn’t “follow” them back) but if one is a writer or an artist of some kind, chances are I’ll follow them back and even “retweet” their projects and such to help spread the word about what they are doing. After all, it doesn’t take much to do that. Merely a click of a button. People have been kind enough to do this for me so I return the favor. I have no doubt that because of this, my book sales increased dramatically over the past year. 

But you have to beware of those who have no idea what this is all about. Yes, you’re going to get plenty of people who simply don’t care about you at all and all they want you to do is buy their books. I can’t count how many times I’ve gotten tweets that were nothing more than advertisements. “Buy my book! Buy my book!” with absolutely no personal connection whatsoever. That doesn’t bother me so much as it does others. I simply ignore those, that is, unless they make some sort of attempt to make personal contact. Then you have those who’s sole concern is to ramp up their numbers, to increase their “following.”  They essentially spam-follow hundreds of people at a time in an attempt to get you to follow them back, and then unfollow you once you do. This happened to me plenty of times, as I’m sure it’s happened to others. This doesn’t work, though, because people will simply drop you and unfollow you right back. 

But then there are these types, the more insidious ones who think you are merely there to be a free advertisement for them. I was recently “followed” by an author who asked me, as a favor, to mention her novel, give it a “tweet” to my 1200 + followers. I did so, even got thanked for it, only to be promptly unfollowed once I did it. In the grand scheme of things, who cares, but it does go to show you the level of unprofessionalism out there and the set of balls some people have in their insatiable desire to “make it.”  I unfollowed this person, deleted the “tweet” and blocked them for good measure. So it didn’t work and she will discover soon enough that it will happen more than once. Not a good way to help promote yourself or your book. 

So if you are one who utilizes these sites in an attempt to promote your work, be prepared for the staggering amount of selfishness and self-absorption that you are no doubt going to run into - and don’t take it personally. There’s always the delete/block button to weed these folks out. Perhaps I still naïvely believe in the idea of independent artists helping one another out but I’m not so naïve anymore that I will extend that hand so willingly as I did in the past. I suppose the message here is to be wary. As in other avenues of life, many people simply do not have your interests at heart and only care about themselves. Human nature, I suppose. And not all that surprising these days.

Impressions: "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo

I have seen all “The Godfather” films a million times and both parts one and two have become favorite films of mine over the years - but I never read the novel from which these great films were derived. After seeing yet another rerun of “The Godfather” saga on TV recently, I figured it was about time that I finally read the novel. 

I have read Mario Puzo’s two  novels that preceded his best known book: “The Dark Arena” and “The Fortunate Pilgrim”, both of which I enjoyed very much, particularly “The Fortunate Pilgrim” which could be looked at as something of a precursor to “The Godfather” although one has nothing to do with the other.  “The Fortunate Pilgrim” was a very well written story about Italian immigrants living in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City during the Depression era. There were some allusions to the Mafia in that story but the focus was mainly on the matriarch of the family, struggling to keep her family together amongst the old world and the new. A critical success, “The Fortunate Pilgrim” didn’t sell very well, which is unfortunate because it is a far superior novel than it’s follow up. 

Puzo himself claimed he had consciously set out to write a “bestseller” when he began “The Godfather.” After all, he was a government clerk with five children to feed and his previous novels weren’t selling. He set out to change that and according to the author he had a meeting with a publisher, regaling him with Mafia stories for about an hour and showed him a ten page outline. The publisher gave him a $5,000 advance and told him to go write the book. “The Godfather” is what he produced. 

I’m sure most readers here are aware of the plot since I am going on the assumption that many if not all those reading this saw the film. The film follows the novel fairly faithfully, although there are some differences, but more or less, what you see in the film comes directly from the novel, dialog included. What surprised me about the novel more than anything else was its clumsiness and repetitiveness of the writing. It is far less stylized than his previous two novels and there are many instances where he breaks a lot of what would be considered today’s “rules” of writing. There is an awful lot of “telling” rather than “showing.” (There were some instances of this in his previous novels, but far fewer examples than you’ll find here). The other flaw the novel has is that it sometimes digresses into subplots concerning the character Johnny Fontane and Sonny Corleone’s mistress Lucy Mancini, digressions that weren’t truly necessary to move the story forward and seemed more like a distraction than anything else. But these are minor quibbles, really. Despite its flaws in style it is a remarkable story - told in the tradition of Balzac (who Puzo quotes at the very beginning of the novel) and Dostoevski. This is probably the only time that I found an instance where the film is superior to the novel. It isn’t a bad book by any means but I think the film’s brilliance and artful way of depicting the time, place and story influences my opinion more than anything else. 

If you haven’t read any of Puzo’s novels, I would strongly recommend you read this novel’s predecessor, “The Fortunate Pilgrim”, which depicts Italian-American immigrant life in a far superior way - and the writing itself is far superior as well.  

Rating: * * * 

Love and Hate and the World of Art

“Is there anything you don’t like?” 

This was a question asked to me by a causal reader of this blog. Well, the honest answer is absolutely, of course. Believe me there is plenty out there today that doesn’t move me in any way, shape or form - either in literature, music, art, film, you name it; and when I was a much younger man, I was far more vocal about it than I tend to be these days. So, yes, there are plenty of things out there that I don’t like - can’t stand, in fact. As I got a little older I’ve begun to practice the old adage: “if you have nothing good to say, don’t say it at all.” I’ve become more inclined to simply ignore those things that I don’t like. Why waste time and energy on them?  What would be the point? After all, I am not an expert on any of these matters. All I do is write about what I think of them, in this case mostly the books I’ve been reading; and I’m sure there will be times where I won’t have such glowing things to say about what I’ve been reading. What I won’t do is a hatchet piece. I don’t really see the point in that. I’ve been a little critical at times but when I started this blog, my main purpose was - aside from promoting my own work - to try to pass on to others the things I found interesting and enjoyable. Even if I read something that I wasn’t particularly fond of, I’ll say so, but there’s always something to pass on to those who may appreciate it more than I did. 

Artists by their very nature are often hyper-critical beings. I suppose it comes with the territory. We all look at something at some point and just know we could do a better job. I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say I haven’t felt that way, especially in my younger days when I was more inclined to get up on the soapbox about it. Nowadays I’m more inclined to just dismiss it, ignore it and not waste precious energy on it. I’ll leave that to the professional critics, of which I am most certainly not. I am just one man with an opinion, a feeling, an “impression” so to speak. I know what I like and what I don’t like and why. Sometimes you may agree with me, other times you will not. That’s only natural - and healthy. So if you’re one to look for hatchet pieces here or if you’re looking for someone to completely tear down another just because he can, I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere - and believe me, there is no shortage of that sort of thing all across cyberspace. The internet has allowed all of us with the ability to type and string a few words together the means to say what we wish about all kinds of things. Again, this is good and healthy, particularly in a free society. And a good healthy discussion is also a good thing. I’m not here for that. Again, I’ll leave that up to others to do. 

I realize we live in an age where tearing another to pieces is considered entertainment. Just look at your television programs. Just look across the internet at your favorite blogs and websites about books, music, films and art. When I started this thing, I made a conscious effort to try to keep things positive. This doesn’t always mean that everything will be glowing but I refuse to contribute to the noise that, in my view, is a blot on our culture (i.e. so-called “reality shows” - there you have it. I fucking hate those shows. All of them. I don’t watch them). And what I mean by “positive” is that I intend to try to turn people on to things that I come across that they may not have been aware of (although a good deal of what I’ve read here aren’t exactly “obscure” items). Still, for those who may not have heard of them, this is my way of trying to show you that there is something worth checking out. 

So yes, there are plenty of things that I dislike - and hate, in fact. I’m just no longer going to waste my time and energy on it, especially when there are better things out there to experience. 

Impressions: "Call If You Need Me" by Raymond Carver

The subtitle to this is “The Uncollected Fiction and Other Prose”, the “other prose” being essays, book reviews, and introductions. There is also a fragment of an unfinished novel called “The Augustine Notebooks” which showed promise of being an interesting novel had it been completed.  I’ve read Carver’s other short story collections over the past year and while I liked them, I didn’t see the “genius” in them, a title that is often bestowed on him by many writers and others in the literary community. To me, he is very much like Hemingway only I feel that Hemingway is a much better writer. There are some really good stories in here, my favorites being “Kindling”, “Dreams”, and “Furious Seasons.”  

But the work that truly shines here are his essays on writing, which I thought were great, and quite helpful to the would-be writer. In his essay “On Writing” he speaks of dispensing with “tricks and gimmicks” as well as warning the writer to be wary of being “too experimental”, which he calls “careless, silly or imitative” and a “license to try to brutalize or alienate the reader.” In “John Gardner: The Writer as Teacher” he speaks warmly and fondly of his teacher and mentor, and his experience learning from him and how much Gardner had supported his development as a writer.  One piece of advice Gardner had given him was this: “Read all the Faulkner you can get your hands on, and then read all of Hemingway to clean the Faulkner out of your system.” (John Gardner has written some truly amazing books on writing as well: “On Moral Fiction”, “On Becoming a Novelist” and “The Art of Fiction” - must reads for writers out there. He is also the author of numerous novels and is considered a major American novelist). In “Fires” he speaks of influences and the effect they have on a writer - not only literary influences but the other things that happen in the course of a writer’s life which informs their work. The other essays include meditations on his family, friendships, his life and his struggles to become the writer he became. It’s interesting to me how his prose is much more relaxed in these essays - more so than they are in his stories and perhaps if this “voice” was used more in his fiction, I may have enjoyed them more than I did.  

I suppose this collection is a must for completists but for those who have never read him before, I wouldn’t begin with this. Try his other collections out first and see what you think. But this collection is worth it just for the essays on writing alone, which I found informative and interesting.  

Rating: * * * 

Impressions: "The Slave" by Renato Ghiotto

The original title of this book was “Scacco Alla Regina,” which roughly translates to “Check for the Queen.”  The English translation settled on “The Slave” instead. This 1967 Italian novel was a big hit in Europe. It is written by a man but told from the point of view of a woman who desires to be dominated and humiliated in order to satisfy her erotic desires. Sylvia - the narrator - finds herself in the employ of a very wealthy actress named Margaret, who lives in a secluded house near Rome along with six other women and one man. Margaret satisfies Sylvia’s desires by becoming the very thing she wants: someone to dominate, turning Sylvia into nothing more than a plaything, subject to her every whim.  

With that said, this is not an overtly sexual novel. It’s more about the psychology of debasement and finding liberation by humiliation and submission. The novel builds very very slowly. It’s very well written and Ghiotto manages to make his woman’s “voice” very believable where at times you forget this was written by a man. It can also be very surrealistic as Sylvia participates in bizarre rituals where the roles between possessor and possessed become blurred and intertwined. 

If you’re looking for explicit sexuality here you may be disappointed, though it is here, through Sylvia’s meditation. There are times where you feel you may give up on it due to the slooooow pace of the narrative but you find yourself wanting to know how it all turns out. A recommended read but don’t expect anything too titillating. That isn't the point here. Readers who enjoyed Pauline Réage’s “The Story of O” or  Leopold von Masoch’s “Venus in Furs” may may want to check this out - but just don’t expect it to be as erotic. 

Rating: * * * 

Impressions: "The Field of Vision" by Wright Morris

“What had he seen? How long would it take him to puzzle it out? He was now a jigsaw loose in its box, the bullfight one of the scarlet pieces, but he would not know its meaning until the pattern itself appeared. And that he would not find. No, not anywhere, since it did not exist. The pattern - what pattern it had - he would have to create. Make it out of something that looked for all the world like something else.” - Wright Morris, “The Field of Vision.” 

A family from Nebraska decide to take a vacation in Mexico. They attend a bullfight and the arena is where the novel is set. While watching the drama unfold before them, each of the family members reflect on their own lives and the circumstances which brought them up to this particular point.  Told from multiple points of view, it is interesting to see what is remembered and what isn’t, what is left out of the story, and what isn’t. Meanwhile the bullfight serves as a metaphor for the drama of their lives - the arena itself being “the field of vision.”  

This is one of those mid-twentieth century novels that seems simple enough on the surface but there is a whole hell of a lot taking place underneath - and it is through each character that we see the complexities, eccentricities and banalities of American cultural life in the mid-twentieth century. It’s a “deep” novel without it weighing too heavily on the reader and there is quite a bit of humor and lightheartedness in the way its told. The quote above, to me, seems to sum up the meaning of the novel very nicely, though it is one of those books that will have you thinking about it long after you’ve finished it.  

Rating: * * * *