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 Friday, April 27, 2007
The Meanness Racket
Posted by maria
Hi Writers, I try to be a nice person, to use my inside voice, to not get caught up in another person’s meanness. But every once in a while I read something that brings out the lioness in me and makes me want to grab a person with my teeth and drag him to a place he can’t get Internet access. The latest piece that has me furious ran this week in The New Republic, “ The Niceness Racket” written by a nasty little man named Lee Siegel (I don’t know if he’s actually little; I use the term metaphorically). In case you can’t read the piece, here’s an excerpt from his long essay/rant/critique about Dave Eggers and his latest book, the story of an African refugee, What is the What. “In Eggers's hands, the survivor's voice does not survive.
Where is the dignity in that? How strange for one man to think that he could write the story of another man, a real living man who is perfectly capable of telling his story himself—and then call it an autobiography. It is just one more instance of the accelerating mash-up of truth and falsehood in the culture, which mirrors and—who knows?—maybe even enables the manipulation of truth in politics.
And Eggers's book is also another unsettling thing. I never thought I would reach for this vocabulary, but What Is the What's innocent expropriation of another man's identity is a post-colonial arrogance—the most socially acceptable instance of Orientalism you are likely to encounter. Perhaps this is the next stage of American memoir. Perhaps, having run out of marketable stories to tell about ourselves, we will now travel the world in search of desperate people willing to rent out their lives, the way indigent people in some desolate places give up their children. Perhaps we have picked our psyches clean, and now we need other people's stories the way we need other people's oil.” I’m aware there’s a long, well-established history of literary criticism and that critics are necessary in the way bacteria is necessary for an otherwise healthy organism. But shouldn’t a critique focus on the literary work in question and not devolve into a character assassination of its author? It so happens that I’m in the midst editing a feature for the August issue of Writer’s Digest, on Eggers and Deng’s collaboration for What is the What. Siegel implies that Eggers is a cultural parasite, who, lacking an interesting story of his own, leeched onto African refugee Valentino Achak Deng. This is far from the case. Eggers was contacted four years ago by Mary Williams (Jane Fonda’s daughter and founder of the Lost Boys Foundation), to write Deng’s story. Here an excerpt from our interview, written by Mary Curran-Hackett: “Williams formed the foundation to make sure the Lost Boys—by then, young Sudanese men—found jobs, apartments, and mentors who could support and guide them in their new American lives. Having read about Eggers—who lost both of his parents as a teenager—Williams sought Eggers out as a mentor who could help Deng write about the life he and his friends had endured in Sudan.
“Deng recalls first meeting Eggers and explaining his desire to write a book. “I remember that when Dave came to Atlanta, I said to him, ‘I know I have limited English words. If there is any way you can understand my feelings and how I’m telling the story it’s fine. The best way you can tell the story is all I want.’
Eggers agreed to help. At first the plan was for Deng to record his story orally, prompted by Eggers’ questions, and then Eggers would work the interview into a nonfiction narrative. But after hundreds of hours of taped conversations, Eggers was coming up empty on how to write it. “I have to say, it was just an unhappy time for about a year and half, while trying to figure out how to tell this well and how to tell it correctly.” Eggers spent several years with Deng recording hundreds of hours of interviews, sending each chapter to Deng for feedback as he was writing: And what’s Deng’s take on all this? Here’s a direct quote from him: “There wasn’t a single moment I found anything I didn’t like. I asked Dave, ‘How are you able to feel it?’ ” I realize this is the second time I’ve had to pick on The New Republic, but I can’t help it—they really do ask for it. So here’s my questions to you: Does The New Republic hate writers? And shouldn’t a critique focus on the work—not the author? Until next time… Keep Writing, Maria P.S. See, I didn’t even mention Stephen Glass. That would have been a low blow.
publishing news and views
4/27/2007 4:25:57 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Novel Matters
Posted by maria
Hi Writers, Today, Granta magazine's once-a-decade Best of Young American Novelists issue hits newsstands. The LA Times featured an article on the Granta list this Sunday “ In these new American stories, the world speaks,” by Scott Timberg. There’s a lot for writers to mull over in this piece, about the emerging ethnic diversity of our young novelists, and whether novel writing is becoming a luxury for the privileged classes who can afford creative writing programs, etc. But what really got my attention were the remarks from Lorin Stein, an editor at Farrar Straus & Giroux: “The readership has fractured, and reads less, and spends more time e-mailing. And it makes less sense to talk about novelists now — the really creative writing is being done in other genres such as the personal essay, reportage and criticism.” “The novel has become like landscape painting,” he said. “It’s the ‘top’ genre, but not, in real life, the main one.” Wow, I hope this isn’t true. But looking at this list of young novelists, I can’t say they’re exactly household names. As a lifelong reader of novels, this strikes me in a personal way. From the age of seven I’ve had my nose in a book. Beverly Cleary gave me a safe world to escape to during my parent's divorce. JD Salinger and Carson McCullers made me feel less alone through my angsty teen years and Kurt Vonnegut helped me form a worldview. Novels were essential to my upbringing and influenced me far more than newspapers, magazines, movies, MTV and Oprah combined. Is it possible that, as Stein implies, novels are no longer culturally relevant? That they’re the “landscape paintings” of the literary world and nonfiction has taken their place? Can we get everything we need as human beings—culturally, emotionally, spiritually—from nonfiction? And what novels mattered to you? Keep Writing, Maria
publishing news and views
4/24/2007 1:11:20 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, April 16, 2007
David Sedaris and the Truth Police
Posted by maria
Hi Writers, I’ve been keeping up on an ongoing story originating from an article that ran in The New Republic a few weeks ago: “This American Lie” by Alex Heard. Heard took it upon himself to do a painstaking fact-checking of much of the David Sedaris oeuvre and found that—surprise!—some of what Sedaris writes in his “nonfiction” is exaggerated. Is there anyone out there who’s read Sedaris and believes the ridiculous, silly vignettes he writes are 100% fact? Where is this all leading? Are humorists, essayists and other storytellers going to have to start printing a disclaimer like this in the front of their books: Warning: The events and characters contained in this work are based on kernels of truth that have been colored with literary devices such as hyperbole, metaphor and irony in an effort to create an engaging narrative.
I like David Sedaris’ writing and I’m not just trying to defend him here (mostly because he made me mad once by trying to charge us for an interview and I can be very petty that way.) I just think this is a dangerously slippery slope for writers—especially humorists and satirists—with all the self-appointed literary truth cops out there. Am I supposed to start calling Ramsey to fact-check every time Kevin Alexander mentions him in This Writer’s Life? Can’t a funny story just be a funny story? Does it have to be 100% certifiably true if it's been branded with the "nonfiction" label? Still mad but I'll get over it soon. And David, if you're out there, I'm willing to give you a second chance. Keep Writing, Maria
publishing news and views
4/16/2007 4:41:03 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, April 13, 2007
A Memorial to Kurt Vonnegut
Posted by maria
Dear Writers, I wanted to share with you this fascinating interview with Kurt Vonnegut " Vonnegut on Fiction." It originally appeared in a Writer's Digest specialty publication in 2002. "I certainly didn't expect to succeed to the extent I have. I mean, it's not phenomenal, but I certainly didn't expect to amount to much." -Kurt Vonnegut You know how I love quotes and I found this gem in the interview. What a remarkable man. Did he not even realize he changed the way we all think about literature? He will be greatly missed. Until next time... Keep Writing, Maria P.S. If you have a favorite Vonnegut quote or book or character, please share here in his honor.
publishing news and views
4/13/2007 3:37:10 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, April 12, 2007
In Honor of Kurt Vonnegut
Posted by maria
I offer you this wonderful quote from him:
"Don't worry about getting into the profession, write anyway to make your soul grow. That's what the practice of any art is, it isn't to make a living— it's to make your soul grow."
-Kurt Vonnegut
(I found this in the WD archives. I'll post the full text interview tomorrow.)
Until next time...
Keep Writing,
-Maria
publishing news and views
4/12/2007 3:23:19 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Blogs and Free Speech
Posted by maria
Hi Writers, I’ve been trying to convince writers—on the WD forum and elsewhere—that blogging can be good for their careers. Read this interesting article from Folio magazine on the new set of expectations publishers have of wannabe journalists. But the prevailing notion I hear from writers is that blogging is some kind of farm league to get to the big show of the print world. It's a new world and publishers are trying to stay in the game by adding engaging web content to their print repertoire. This is where you the writer come in—you can offer publishers that content. And I’m not talking about keeping a personal, diary-style blog, which has worked for some but can also be a professional landmine if you’re not careful (see the WD article " Blogged and Burned"). Many writers will say to me something along the lines of: “Why should I have a blog? There are millions of blogs.” And that’s precisely the point. There’s so much bad content floating around on the Internet, a good writer who works hard will garner an audience there. Readers on the web are looking for trustworthy sources. Which brings me to a fascinating article that ran in the New York Times this weekend that discuses the idea of a blogger code of conduct. Apparently folks who have thrown their hats into the blogging arena are finding out what journalists have always known—if you’re going to put yourself out there and people are reading you, you’re going to get feedback. And some of that feedback is going to be anonymous and crazy. But I do like this idea of imposing some manners onto your blog visitors if you so choose (which is why, if you use a certain four-letter word on the WD forum, it's going to come up like this ****). We’re writers, masters of the communication arts, shouldn't we be taking the lead in raising the bar in the blogosphere? What do you think about the blogger code of conduct? Does it impose on free speech? Drop me a note: I’d love to hear from you. Until next time. Keep Writing, Maria P.S. Thanks for all of the great quotes. Feel free to add more whenever you like--I'm wild about inspirational quotes.
blogs and online writing
4/10/2007 11:26:35 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Help Me Christen My Blog
Posted by maria
Hi Writers,
As this is my first ever blog posting, it seemed appropriate to set it off in the right spirit with a christening of sorts, so here goes: The world is always ready to receive talent with open arms. This fortune cookie wisdom has been taped to my computer monitor for the past four years I’ve been an editor here at Writer’s Digest. It was left behind by the editor before me, and it helps motivate me when I’m getting ready to write.
It’s rather ironic that I’m just now entering blogdom, since I wrote an article on blogging when it was the hot new thing, way back in the dark ages of 2001 The Art of the Blog. It was difficult to even find bloggers to interview back then, let alone someone who could speak quotably on the subject.
So here I am, editrix of Writer’s Digest, blogging for the first time. You’d think I’d have my hands full trying to keep Brian Klems, Kevin Alexander and all of the WD forumites (who call me “the pit boss”) in line.
But the thing is, I’m a lifelong obsessive-compulsive reader, and I like to share what I read. In fact, on a neurotic note, I think I may have hyperlexia: “A condition in which the main characteristics are an above average ability to read accompanied with a below average ability to understand spoken language. The symptoms are closely related to those of autism.”
And possibly even hypergraphia: “An overwhelming urge to write. It is not itself a disorder, but can be associated with temporal lobe changes in epilepsy and mania.”
(Thank God for the Internet, how else would we research our obscure psychological disorders?)
Anyway, disorder or not, I do a ridiculous amount of reading. Lucky for me, I finally landed a job where they pay me to read. But it occurred to me that you writers may not have fallen into a gig where someone pays you to do what you’d probably do for free (shhh… don’t tell my bosses).
So here’s the deal, let me do the scanning for you. I’m going to keep an eye on the publishing industry and other writerly news and report back to you by providing links you might be interested in, along with commentary. Agree or disagree, I’d love to hear from you either way. The WD forumites will tell you that I enjoy verbal sparring as long everyone’s having a good time--so let’s mix it up.
And to kick things off, I’m asking anyone dropping in to help christen my blog properly by posting the quotes you have taped to your writing desk or computer. Until next time...
Keep Writing,
-Maria
blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news
4/3/2007 12:31:08 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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