Alfred

Alfred's profile pic reminds me so strikingly of the short story by T. C. Boyle, "The Descent of Man" that I wanted to make some comment.

Now what I thought would be a three minute post has just waylayed me for far longer.

Here is the photo:

It reminded me of the short story "The Descent of Man" by T. C. Boyle. The whole process of trying to find an example of an excerpt from the tale has become a frustration.

It is highly amusing and well written, acerbic and it lends metaphor for, I feel, far more than it seems, that wonderful story.

'And anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Boyle is perhaps our most imaginative social satirist since Swift. With an O. Henry-gone-mad (or angry) talent for twists that depict people hoisted by their own petards: The unfortunate soul who laments losing his primate-studying girlfriend to a precocious and far more sophisticated chimp in "Descent of Man."...'

I agree with the man keeping control of his material (meaning Boyle, the protagonist does not), but you would think that some little snippet might be out there to give a sense to those who may never hold the actual book in hand.

Go read T. C. Boyle, particularly the shorts. I have very much enjoyed them, and considered and concerned over them. They are fine writing and work on several depths. I saw him interviewed ages ago on MacNeil/Lehrer and admired while wincing at his advocacy for story telling.

Wincing because, I believe in my vague memory, that his enthusiasm for stories, for concepts of character and plot which leave you wanting, clutching to know the next facet, seemed to those in "Literary" circles at odds with "Literature" which it is not. "Literature" which commands attention and accolades from the "elite" can often be more a challenge than a natural draw.

I can recall him stressing this notion of story telling as an art and asset at risk in contemporary culture. Again my memory cannot be trusted, but I think I winced, understood and admired all at once.

I believe he may suggest something similar in this interview:

"That's true," he says. "I do feel that literature should be demystified. What I object to is what is happening in our era: literature is only something you get at school as an assignment. No one reads for fun, or to be subversive or to get turned on to something. It's just like doing math at school. I mean, how often do we sit down and do trigonometry for fun, to relax. I've thought about this, the domination of the literary arts by theory over the past 25 years -- which I detest -- and it's as if you have to be a critic to mediate between the author and the reader and that's utter crap. Literature can be great in all ways, but it's just entertainment like rock'n'roll or a film. It is entertainment. If it doesn't capture you on that level, as entertainment, movement of plot, then it doesn't work. Nothing else will come out of it. The beauty of the language, the characterisation, the structure, all that's irrelevant if you're not getting the reader on that level -- moving a story. If that's friendly to readers , I cop to it."

David Foster Wallace surfaces and I acknowledge that I have not read the opus which did not engage the interlocutor. I will only submit that when folks agree over too much thought and idiosyncrasy have been abandoned. They drive stories. They also drive readers:

'There's a movement, I say, in literature at the moment. Call it the new erudition. Writers like Jonathan Safran Foer and David Foster Wallace. Writers who display their erudition the way the Cheshire Cat displays teeth.

"I like David a great deal. Some of his stories are brilliant."

I interrupt. I say two words. The title of a David Foster Wallace novel. A book I spent an interminable summer decrypting. A book that is my benchmark for horrendous reading experiences. Infinite Jest.

"I know," Boyle says. "But it's a performance. And you know, there's always in art a whole dialectic between form and content and everything in between -- there are swings, and there are individual writers who prefer one or the other. And so in painting, for instance, especially in abstract painting, there are paintings that exist more for an idea -- an aesthetic idea -- and I think those things may be limited because they're hip to a period, but may be stuck in the period."'

Oh well. Alfred looks great in that photo!