Allegra Goodman, The Cookbook Collector, Noam Shpancer, The Good Psychologist and Elie Wiesel, The Sonderberg Case
First things first. As much as I enjoy discussing other people's books with Alan Cheuse, I also quite enjoy discussing his books with him. And because I talk to him regularly, I can get some insights out of him about his writing that might not ordinarily come out. When I arrived to chat about the three books we were scheduled to review, he told me that he'd just turned in his latest novel.
Since I found myself sitting across the table from an acclaimed author who had just finished a new novel, I decided to take the time to find out how that feels. Cheuse, wisely wary of sounding pretentious, was a bit tentative in his response, but I understood that to be a reflection of exactly how one might feel in such circumstances. After literally years of immersion in the creation of another world (his new novel has a historical setting), it seems quite understandable that upon emerging, everything outside the creation would seem pretty ... ungrounded, as it were. Cheuse, of course, is as articulate as ever when describing the ineffable.
Then we set out to discuss the books, which, by and large we enjoyed, with some reservations. I've already written about Allegra Goodman's 'The Cookbook Collector,' and Cheuse had already done his review for NPR. But the aspect of this format that we both enjoy is the opportunity to bounce our ideas off of one another and see where the discussion of the book leads. While I found the book to be yet another example of my economic fiction genre, Cheuse pointed out that it does deal with that, but that the charm of the novel, and its unique vision, is that it shows the characters at work.
We then went on discuss what Cheuse had told me earlier was the "fascinating failure" of Elie Weisel's 'The Sonderburg Case'. Let me suggest that this sparse, 178 page novel is indeed a powerfully written book. Weisel's prose knocks your head around with no effort. He's a brilliant visionary and philosopher. There's also a certain simpatico between Wiesel and the outstanding debut of Noam Shpancer, 'The Good Psychologist.' Both offer stark insights into the minds of men. You can hear a discussion of these fine novels and more by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
07-28-10:Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010: Q & A
"The people you deal with at the publishers ... if they last the end of the week, you're lucky."
—Brian Froud
One of the great things about SF in SF is that the audience is comprised of sharp, smart thinkers, many of them professional writers in one way or another. So the questions that get asked are always the smart ones. I've been going to these programs for I think four years now, (maybe its three?) and I can honestly say that the only time the "Where do you get your ideas?' question gets asked is in a framing question, for example, "How often do you get asked ....?"
The Frouds had made it all too clear where their ideas and visions came from with what I thought was a very clever observation. Brian offered the observation that without an imagination, you'd get hit by a truck the first time you tried to cross the street. We do use our imaginations to create the world around us, and to deny the reality of what we imagine is to deny reality itself. You need do neither to hear the Frouds speak, by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
07-27-10:Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010
"Well, I thought if I do faeries then nobody's going to say that I've got it wrong."
—Brian Froud
SF in SF generally takes place on Saturdays, and there's a fine turnout. But a Monday night brought a rather generous crowd to see Brian and Wendy Froud talk about their work. And what transpired, as moderated by Terry Bisson, was a very different take on their careers than was explored when I spoke with them earlier in the day.
I have to admit, personally, I really like the Frouds a lot. They just seemed so nice and so genial and so, I think, out of place. Clearly there is only one real setting for these two, the Dartmoor area of Devon. On opposite sides of the house, so they tell us, each Froud working on their own art, while both of them seem to be same landscape. But it's a landscape that only they can see.
It' sort of odd, truth to tell the truth, that only with their latest book and deck of cards have the Frouds collaborated in that sense. Though, of course, everything they've done since The Dark Crystal is in a sense part of one overarching artistic vision. The Frouds are mapping the OtherWorld for us, giving us a glimpse of its inhabitants. And yes, they have read my favorite book on the subject, Patrick Harpur's 'Daimonic Reality.'
07-26-10:A 2010 Interview with Brian and Wendy Froud
"It's all about connection."
—Brian Froud
"It's all about connection." This is true in the interviewing world as well as the world of Faerie. And making that connection in the former can sometimes seem a lot more difficult than in the latter. The faerie world is, after all, immanent. You break into the world of faerie from any point in this world. (Though it may not be so easy to get back out!)
Getting an interview set up requires scheduling skills, and often improvisation skills as well. I've been using the same now technologically obsolete setup for a number of years. The virtue of such a setup is that you get to know how it works, so, if for example, you have to set it up in a room barely big enough to hold you and your interviewees, you don't experience techno-stress. And with that out of the way, you're ready to talk.
And, yes, there is a hazard to interviewing in hotel rooms in San Francisco. For reasons beyond my understanding, there seems to be a fire truck screaming down the streets every half-hour or so. We only had one really close red-alarm during my interview with the Frouds, but our voices at least, rose to the occasion.
I have to admit that I really liked how seriously the Frouds took their work. I wasn't sure about this going in. I've been immersed in their work for the past thirty or more years, and upon speaking with them, I could see why their art manages to be both unique and universal. The two of them spend a lot of time demolishing the line between the reality of the 21st century and the timeless spirit of creation at the heart of their work.
Brian and Wendy are very serious about what they do. They believe in their art, and I kept hearing that phrase that ends H. P. Lovecraft's short story, "Pickman's Model." "But by God, Eliot, it was a photograph from life!" The Frouds do great work at abolishing the distance between the Jungian underworld of archetype and the OtherWorld of what Patrick Harpur calls 'Daimonic Reality.' I did manage to get them to talk about their work on 'The Dark Crystal,' and 'Labyrinth' and even some hints about what to expect in 'The Return of the Dark Crystal.' You can hear our conversation by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
New to the Agony Column
02-01-12: Commentary : Stan Lee Splashes 'Stan Lee's How to Write Comics' and 'Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics' : Lessons in the Form, From the Master
01-23-12: Commentary : Sara Paretsky Nails 'Breakdown' : The Machine Stops
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Sara Paretsky : "Everything in a courtroom is a story; it's not justice, it's combating narratives."
01-18-12: Commentary : Téa Obreht Conjures 'The Tiger's Wife' : The Grammar of Vision
01-13-12: Commentary : Hard Case Subterranean Block : Not from Bob's Basement Tapes
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Phone Interview with Lisa Randall : "...there seems to be some evidence, especially from one of the experiments."
01-10-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Terry D'Auray Catches Lawrence Block and 'The Burglar on the Prowl' : "A show well worth the price of a ticket."
12-29-11: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Island of Vice by Richard Zacks, Iago by David Snodin, The Coincidence Engine by Sam Leith and The Dipatcher by Ryan David Jahn
12-21-11: Commentary : Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman : From the Seedy to the Sublime
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheuse : 'Kill Bin Laden' ; Ryu Mitsuse, '10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights' ; Michael Crichton and Richard Preston, 'Micro'
12-20-11: Commentary : David Blackbourn Visits 'Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a Nineteenth-Century German Village' : Externalizing a Culture Clash
12-15-11: Commentary : Ayize Jama-Everett Reveals 'The Liminal People' : The Powers That Be
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett, and music by Fenyang Smith, December 10, 2011 : "... let's look at what happens if people have abilities that other people don't have ..."
11-28-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Scott Wallace : "Within months of first contact, these groups experience a huge die-off."
11-22-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier, Part Two : "It's not me telling you, there's this storyteller voice."
11-21-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier : "If we're going in the wrong direction, we could turn around and go back."
11-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Gianni Mola : "The only way you can learn, I told them, is to watch me cook it."
11-11-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "...the way I "think" about things, with quotes around think, is I tend to write them down..."
10-31-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Colson Whitehead : "In the Apocalypse, somebody's gonna have to do the grunt work..."
10-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Russell Banks : "They are in a sense, permanently marked and thrown into this darkness..."
