Archive for January, 2010
today my boss said “everything will just melt itself”
Friday, January 29th, 2010
items I am reading slowly and recommend:
why animal suffering matters by andrew linzey, dad says he saw you at the mall by ken sparling (courtesy of sasha fletcher), mindfulness in plain english by bhante henepola gunaratana, the stories of vladimir nabokov, light boxes: a novel by shane jones.
items to physically attend, see you there?
1.) March 5-28 at the Met: Shostakovich opera of Gogol’s “The Nose.”
2.) Wednesday, February 10 at Housing Works: Harper’s hosts “Love: A Rebuke,” a reading with Colson Whitehead, Heidi Julavits, and Sam Lipsyte.
3.) Saturday, February 27 at Space Space: Poetry Time with Lawrence Giffin, Lucy Ives and Chris Martin.
objects of my virtual affection:
4.) Ben Marcus has a nice new website with his writing and other people’s.
5.) I reviewed a british history book for The Faster Times. Stand by for my review of The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History. I really enjoyed reviewing A.N. Wilson’s book. May I always review nonfiction and never review fiction. May I never be reviewer-y.
6.) My new passion: “Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group.” I threw away a lot of money my perfumes, which was really upsetting. I know it’s kinda mommy but I really like to wear perfume. I had no idea it was so toxic. Fortunately, my friend Annie came through with the best replacement: Sweet Marriage: “Scent: Joy inducing and sensual. Divine jasmine with a hint of orange. Purposes: Brings love and sensuality to a union. Refreshes love, increases intimacy and communication, strengthens commitment and promotes monogamy.” (I am getting married this summer) P.S. check out The Successful Marriage Resource.
6.) Gigantic has some new stuff up, and is asking for 300 word biographies of famous Americans!
This is what I bought Lawrence for Christmas:
“Eve de Harben”
Thursday, January 7th, 20101.) “How, I wondered, would the landscape change if the New Yorker published Diane Williams, Gary Lutz, Ben Marcus, Lydia Davis? What renaissance might ensue?” from Loads of Learned Lumber
2.) I am reviewing A.N. Wilson’s Our Times: 1953-2008 for The Faster Times. From A.N. Wilson’s Wikipedia page:
In August 2006 Wilson’s biography of Sir John Betjeman was published. It was then discovered that he had been the victim of a hoax and had included a letter (to Anglo-Irish writer, Honor Tracy) which purported to be by Betjeman detailing a previously unknown love affair, but which he acknowledged to be a fiction, when it was pointed out that it contained an acrostic spelling out an insulting message to him. The letter was sent to Wilson by “Eve de Harben”, who then wrote to a journalist to reveal the hoax. The acrostic spelt out “AN Wilson is a shit” and “Eve de Harben” is an anagram of “Ever been had“. Bevis Hillier, Wilson’s arch rival and Betjeman’s authorised biographer, was an immediate suspect but initially denied all knowledge. A week after the hoax was publicised, however, Hillier admitted responsibility, stating that “When a newspaper started billing Wilson’s book as ‘the big one’, it was just too much.” Wilson later claimed that he has struck back with a hidden message of his own in a reprinting of the book. That has yet to be discovered.
3.) Popcorn is my favorite food and this is the worst news: ”A large tub of popcorn at Regal Cinemas, for example, holds 20 cups of popcorn and has 1,200 calories, 980 milligrams of sodium and 60 grams of saturated fat. Adding just a tablespoon of butter adds 130 calories. And do not forget that it comes with free refills. Not so hungry? The medium size popcorn, which comes in a bag, contains the same amount as the large. And even the small, at 11 cups, delivers 670 calories, 550 milligrams of sodium and 24 grams of saturated fat.”
4.) The Jay Z/Alicia Keys song “Empire State of Mind” came on in Grey Dog’s and I got choked up.
T. Gertler Update
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010At the end of November I wrote about T. Gertler’s book Elbowing the Seducer and wondered about T. Gertler’s identity, and what happened to her. I don’t know a lot more than I knew then, but I’ve finished her novel. The book is dedicated to R.D., M.D. and (the symbol for the Latin cum = with) Gravity. I haven’t read a sexy/plotty book like this since Rona Jaffe’s The Best of Everything and I really enjoyed myself.
New York Magazine reviewed the book and has a picture of T. Gertler, and in 1984 Janet Maslin wrote the following for the NYT:
Miss Hyams, who is Mr. Picker’s wife, directed more than 100 episodes of ”Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.” She spent five years as casting director at Warner Bros., and was a vice president of Columbia Pictures. This will be her feature directing debut.
She and Miss Gertler, who have been discussing the adaptation, hope to retain the book’s humor and to keep the story closely focused on the narrator, lessening the importance of the men who mistreat her. ”The spirit of the book will be retained, and so will the main character,” Mr. Picker said. ”We think of her as an 80’s version of Holly Golightly.”
The screenplay is being written with a specific star in mind. However, the actress has not been told that the role is being tailored for her. ”You don’t go to somebody with a book, because she’ll just say, ‘I like it, I want to see the screenplay,’ ” Mr. Picker said. ”We’ll go to her with the screenplay when it’s done.”
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Concerning the Wikipedia claim that the character of Howard Ritchie is based on Gordon Lish: Howard Ritchie is described as a “midwife to literature” and he calls himself Captain Marvel (Lish is known as ”Captain Fiction”). I thought Ritchie’s literary magazine, Rosemary, resembled the Quarterly, but Lish founded the Quarterly in 1987 and Gertler’s book came out in 1984 so I guess if it’s Lish it could possibly be about Esquire? Does that make Vincent Bask Barry Hannah? Or Richard Ford?
Here are some passages from Elbowing the Seducer:
“Rosemary was descended from the Review, which had established a respectable reputation circulation among college libraries and large bookstores in college towns. The intricate woodblock R on its masthead had been carved by a student, Dickie N. Thornton, forty years before; thirty-five years later his widow; Lydia with plumed moles, provided a fund to perpetuate the magazine, with the provision that Dickie’s R should also endure…
The word submission summed up the problem he faced. He didn’t want writing to crawl to him, hat in hand…
He wanted to be disarmed, he wanted to be aroused. He was listening for a voice that unmistakably, stubbornly insisted on itself, couldn’t be anything but itself, faithfulness as instinct or, if instinct failed, faithfulness as an act of courage.”