Book Review: Reality Hunger by David Shields
While picking through the Purple Room at Powells Books in Portland recently I heard that an author I had never heard of would be talking about a book I hadn't read so I thought "why not?" It turned out he was a passionate and articulate explorer, tired of the old country ( the novel form ), setting out into the unknown for what he dreamed would be a better place. He right away mentioned his new preference for the memoir and essay and all the complicated struggles over "fact" and "non-fiction" and "truth" that genre is going through. This resonated because, though I have not yet tried anything autobiographical, my daughter is working on a memoir and we had talked a great deal about memory and it's hazards and how the same story ( like all history) has many versions and points of views.
I still think fiction has possibilities but I agree the novel has stagnated into a romantic, commercial, psychosocial gimmick.Few interest me past the first couple of pages.
Shields writes: There is more to be pondered in the grain and texture of life than traditional fiction allows. The work of essayists is vital precisely because it permits and encourages self-knowledge in a way that is less indirect than fiction, more open and direct.
As for all the strict encumbrances around "fact" in memoir, Shields recommends we just let it go.The goal is to nurture and grow a discerning audience that can extract it's own truth and will not feel somehow betrayed by a false recollection or stray misquote.
Another aspect to Shields' rebellion is his insistence on the right to appropriate and plagiarize at will in the name of artistic freedom. Since there is nothing new under the sun and all word-craft is built on a foundation in history, he demands the ultimate "open source" and this has proven controversial. I liken it to jazz music and expecting each improvisation to never repeat a phrase that has already been played.Pointless.
Reading the book, this thesis was not always clear and had I not heard the author speak I'm not sure what I would have walked away with. It is uneven, drifting off at times, but I appreciate his courage in rejecting the status quo and hopefully sparking a charged, much needed conversation.
I agree with this assertion and don't care who said it; #562 The way to write is to throw your body at the mark when all your arrows are spent.
Now I can send it to my daughter and see if it messes up her world.
posted by troutsky @ 6:54 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
Of topic but timely.
Fricking bastards. From the Financial Times:
THE owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and causing a giant slick, has made a $270m (£182m) profit from insurance payouts for the disaster.
The revelation by Transocean, the world's biggest offshore driller, will add to the political storm over the disaster. The company was hired by BP to drill the well.
The "accounting gain" arose because the $560m insurance policy Transocean took out on its Deepwater Horizon rig was greater than the value of the rig itself. Transocean has already received a cash payment of $401m with the rest due in the next few weeks.
The windfall, revealed in a conference call with analysts, will more than cover the $200m that Transocean expects to pay to survivors and their families and for higher insurance costs.
... some poor bubba loses his fishing business , BP ties up any compensation in court till the poor bastard's dead, he has to listen to Sister Sarah screech "Drill Baby Drill" and some rethug schmuck like Beak will be screaming to have the guys unemployment benefits cut off.
What a country. Now here in a nutshell is capitalist man's relationship to nature.
Really interesting post.
The internet is the Wild West of plagiarism. The author's idea requires discussion.
Ducky --- great summation!!
We've certainly been learning a lot about the insurance business lately! Health, derivatives, oil platforms, place your bet and roll em. Heads you win, tails I lose.
Ren, The author actually calls it a manifesto because of the revolutionary nature of what he is suggesting. He didn't want to cite anyone but his publishers lawyers forced him to. So he put citations in small print and asks readers to cut them out before reading.
Kudos for challenging yet another institution!
You clowns should be coloring books rather than reading them.
However, Obama's incompetence and stupidity has cost us our best ally in this front. Pakistan should be told point blank to get its act together or face the consequences. If it can control its territory and permits terrorist activity from its soil than it is time for action. India should be encouraged to invade and take additional territory. The USA should cross the border as it deems prudent.
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That's from the Beak's site.
That's right fight fans. He's trying to book a heavyweight bout between two nuclear armed states.
But in the primitive mind of the right wing it's always just a simple question of using military force. The task of building any kind of consciousness on the right is damn near impossible.
As for the question of "fact" in writing, or an art, I would hate to have to sit through a documentary that is strictly "fact". The purely factual may well exist in science but it's a pretty blurry concept in art. You're always doing some copying or you're in reaction to a particular style.
Art is much more of a dialog than people realize. Titian and Tintoretto, Matisse and Picasso ... goes on all the time.
Ducky
India will take care of Pakistan with ease. A bomb or two will not change things. Pakistan has been playing a double game with terrorist.
Let Pakistan serve as an example of what ethnically cleansed Muslim states with zero claim to statehood
devolve into. Time for the Duck to start defending apartheid states as long as it is Muslims practicing apartheid.
These terrorists are same ones Beak supported in Afghanistan. The CIA encouraged Pakistan's intelligence agencies, to arm and train them.
Islamists in Pakistan have always been used against the left. When the PPP had a socialist program, the Islamists were the attackers, organized by developing Pakistani capitalists and feudal lords.
It was wrong for Pakistan to separate from India. A socialist government would make India and Pakistan one country again.
Beak defended the pro-Taliban Bonapartist Musharraf regime, that jailed lawyers.
Beak is again wrong. True that Pakistan was an imperialist creation, and is unstable. It is undeniable it's a state. It has borders, a national language, government, military and its recognized as a state internationally.
This is another example of Hugo Chavez's spokesman knowingly spreading false statements and supporting apartheid states.
1) Commies invaded Afghanistan and butchered the population. Commies used poison gas on civilians and mines shaped like toys.
While chemical weapons and toys designed to butcher children were used by Commies people like the apologist for Chavez the narco terrorist applauded.
2) US Aid went to Ahmad Shah Masoud
who did the majority of the actual fighting.
3) Gulbadin Hekmatyar of the Taliban is in fact a Communist.
4) Killing Communists who have frequently aligned with hostile foreign powers given their record
is no crime.
5) Pakistan was an idiotic idea accepted by Ghandi who is revered by Commies. It is one of a series of ethnically cleansed Muslim states they endorse. Any look at the demographics of India and its adjacent neighbors paints a clear picture. Even when apartheid states are created Muslims do not depart. Commies also continue to cause pointless trouble in India.
The idiotic mindless Indira Ghandi
of the Nehru clan is responsible for the historic US tie with Pakistan. Big mouthed mindless Socialists who served as mouth pieces for Commies created a counter reaction. Her son went through much effort to repair India's reputation in the USA.
Commies continue to advocate for the creation of additional apartheid states while spreading populist Jooooo hatred. The message of Commies from La Raza to its Islamic counterparts is quite clear.
FYI The far left Psuedostinian Telegraph publishes David Duke.
Sorry for the interruption guys... but this guy is great... a must read.
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/05/lost-on.html
Oh stop whining, Kultur.
Let the Beak explain it all. When the crap hits the fan we invade Canada and England and take all their shit. They were all commies anyway.
LMAO
No Ducky
But I want to find the gender confused Larry Gamboner and toss him in Gitmo for recreational purposes.
Having terrorists listening to his stupidity on a daily basis is worse than water boarding.
Instead of replying to Yeagley's trolling, I'll post this link.
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