tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post361614992225928350..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: Striking no rootsD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-63220807232254320402010-10-29T09:59:03.062-04:002010-10-29T09:59:03.062-04:00Mr. Myers -
To begin with, I apologize if my resp...Mr. Myers - <br />To begin with, I apologize if my response to your original post came of as less than respectful. It wasn't my intention. In fact, it never really crossed my mind that you, or any of your readers would ever see it. That said, though, I stand by what I wrote. <br /><br />I appreciate your comments, but I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. As you said, the fact that we both (you in or original post, and me in my response) fail to define "regionalism" shows how slippery a literary label can be. <br /><br />While I do seem to agree with Franzen's idea of "new technologies, and our homogenized exurbs and suburbs," as a lifetime Midwesterner, I think his ideas about the region, and regionalism in general are pretty far off. <br /><br />Ultimately, I think we simply disagree about what makes certain writers and their writing "regional." On top of that, it appears our experiences in and around MFA programs differs greatly. MFA programs are certainly bureaucratic, though I would argue not to the extent to which you make them. Or at least I wouldn't go so far as to say they influence the places - or regions - their students write about. <br /><br />I'm not sure if you seen this or not (I didn't see it on your blog), but you might be interested in Anis Shivani's take on MFA programs. He's got an essay in this month's Boulevard magazine. <br /><br />http://www.boulevardmagazine.org/shivani2.pdf <br /><br />Shivani and I don't see eye to eye, either, though I think you might enjoy it. His essay is interesting nonetheless.<br /><br />Great talking with you - <br />CaseyCasey Pyciorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17081555695176426686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-91145177855428043812010-10-07T11:10:34.054-04:002010-10-07T11:10:34.054-04:00Out of curiosity as a tried-and-true Pacific North...Out of curiosity as a tried-and-true Pacific Northwesterner here - do you consider David Guterson a regional author? Would you indentify any particular authors with the PNW?Perpetual Pilgrimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16856646425963437798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-55093691166374633422010-10-04T12:23:32.060-04:002010-10-04T12:23:32.060-04:00Re: Chris Offutt: A dude's gotta eat. (Hmmm, I...Re: Chris Offutt: A dude's gotta eat. (Hmmm, I'd noticed a "Chris Offutt" in writing credits for "True Blood," but wasn't sure it was the same guy. His daddy, Andrew, was a writer of fantasy and sf, so I guess it runs in the family.)Tom B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-27417035001084219102010-09-28T23:32:34.080-04:002010-09-28T23:32:34.080-04:00That blog entry seems hardly worth responding to. ...That blog entry seems hardly worth responding to. <br /><br />"Things have become so homogenized, particularly in the suburbs, that someone could be picked up from one of these places and dropped into another and have no idea where they were, geographically speaking, or perhaps that they'd even moved at all. "<br /><br />Really? This isn't even true for the various suburbs of my single city.StealthJewhttp://stealthjew.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-80529430172373549592010-09-28T19:51:13.075-04:002010-09-28T19:51:13.075-04:00Franzen names Fitzgerald as a Midwestern writer, w...Franzen names Fitzgerald as a Midwestern writer, which reminds me of perhaps my favorite scene in <i>The Great Gatsby</i>. On their first drive together, Jay tells Nick that he is “the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West—all dead now.”<br /><br />“What part of the Middle West?” I inquired casually.<br /><br />“San Francisco.”<br /><br />Franzen’s sense of geography is just about as steady.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-37532145133039628472010-09-28T17:45:54.320-04:002010-09-28T17:45:54.320-04:00I had always wondered why, as a Midwesterner, I fe...I had always wondered why, as a Midwesterner, I felt such an affinity for Faulkner, Welty, and O'Connor. Now I see that it is because, having grown up about a mile south of I-70, I am "basically southern." How exciting.<br /><br />Chris Offutt is the only writer on that list who I have read. He's an interesting case - three books of fiction in the 1990s, all about the eastern Kentucky hill country. Since then, a memoir, comic books and television about vampires.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-80969294195464232352010-09-28T14:55:36.944-04:002010-09-28T14:55:36.944-04:00Levi,
“Skeptical” I will accept, but I am not rea...Levi,<br /><br />“Skeptical” I will accept, but I am not really <i>against</i> creative writing, only the way it is conceived and taught at present.<br /><br />Franzen’s answer about the Midwest is ridiculous. As someone who now lives in Columbus, I can tell you that <i>no</i> one here thinks of it as “Thurberville.” (Buckeyeland, maybe.)<br /><br />—DavidD. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-17308831013237626872010-09-28T14:22:41.785-04:002010-09-28T14:22:41.785-04:00D. G.,
In that post for the University of Chicago ...D. G.,<br />In that post for the University of Chicago Press blog, I didn't assign you to the side that is against creative writing--I said that you're highly skeptical about how it's currently practiced. In evidence, I used your own headline--"Against Creative Writing"--and your own words about how the current system "has no larger purpose." <br /><br />That aside: you're right about Franzen's completely misguided explanation of the Midwest. I've lived in Illinois almost my whole life, but I've lived in its rural and its urban areas, and I've got siblings in Indiana, friends in Wisconsin and Michigan and Iowa, and each of those places is distinct enough to make the differences interesting, should a novelist choose to take them up. (Which leaves aside the question of whether Franzen is even right about the traits he ascribes, period: when was the last time the Midwest really felt as disconnected for teens as he suggests? Before the Internet?)Levi Stahlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11094919454842047688noreply@blogger.com