( 9:14 AM )
Monday, December 2, 10AM, Music Currently Playing: Coltrane, A Love Supreme
Just read Fitch's excellent response to my Anti-Oprah article. Thumbs up to him for having read Infinite Jest far enough to have an opinion of it! I hope that his dislike for that one book doesn't color his opinion of my taste enough that it prevents him from reading the rest of my list, at least where Murakami and Johnson are concerned (since they probably meet his requirements for "plot" and/or "conflict" more than IJ does).
Also, I am curious what his take is on other great pieces of writing that are seemingly without "plot" or "conflict." What about Ulysses? What about Cortazar's Hopscotch? Does the defense of short attention spans mean he was unable to complete the excellent Gravity's Rainbow? I agree there is something visceral and enjoyable about Stephen King and other fluff (as I noted, I am acutely aware of how valuable a reader's time is.) Hell, I read pulp sci-fi non-stop and consider the king of it, Philip K. Dick, to be one of my favorite writers (since he encodes so much depth and power in his pulp.)
Yet Fitch recommends Amis at the very end of his own article without any warning to the wise. Here's my warning: Amis is horrifically, terminally, exhaustingly boring, in both content and style. Reading Amis is like listening to a BBC radio announcer while being heavily medicated on Thorazine, and his one novel with any experimentation at all, The Information, is vicious and cruel. Though it contains some conflict, the plot is as twisted as the failed attempt at satire, and in the final pages, the whole book is made utterly pointless. I could say similarly negative things about Night Train and Time's Arrow (though I did enjoy this one) and especially the collection of stories, Heavy Water, but I think time is valuable so I won't waste it. If you're interested in Amis, the only thing of worth that he's done is his collection of essay's on writing against cliche (whose title escapes me at this time). Easily on par with George Orwell's essays, ironically enough; another relatively mediocre Brit author, but a brilliant essayist. I guess there is just no accounting for taste.
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