tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post4237948345113986259..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: 12-day-late April Fool’s jokeD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-50855697423008380352010-11-07T11:08:05.000-05:002010-11-07T11:08:05.000-05:00A writer may not understand a mental state by imit...A writer may not understand a mental state by imitating it, but he can surely evoke it.Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-73467838491666013472010-06-27T12:50:04.997-04:002010-06-27T12:50:04.997-04:00There isn't a thing about the quote you've...There isn't a thing about the quote you've given that I don't like. Perhaps because I come from a family that is so conscious of it's antecedents, but even we, whose knowledge goes back fairly extensively for 5 generations...the author's descriptions, "smoky arrangement of a set of rumors" resonates with me. I do not find it pretentious, only accurate. <br /><br />I read Tinkers last month and hated to put it down for a moment.pontalbahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10435992388924639999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-24085903244334247072010-04-15T23:17:07.550-04:002010-04-15T23:17:07.550-04:00I liked Tinkers. Thought the ending was great, tho...I liked Tinkers. Thought the ending was great, though Harding certainly "overwrote" in parts. Guess I'm in the minority here, though. Anyway, this is a great blog. Glad I found it.Kennethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08822449936450212892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-10964519986958064992010-04-15T22:50:28.050-04:002010-04-15T22:50:28.050-04:00Question regarding Update 2:
I know she lives in ...Question regarding Update 2:<br /><br />I know she lives in New York, and her book takes place in New York, but isn't Zoe Heller British?<br /><br />Is she even technically eligible for the Pulitzer?Patrick Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00191025222482645250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-18050674023018873772010-04-14T21:36:25.420-04:002010-04-14T21:36:25.420-04:00"vitreous squares floating about in whoever e..."vitreous squares floating about in whoever else’s frames..." sounds worse than Gabriel García Márquez's "wormy guava grove of love". Good grief! <br /><br />It comes right on the heel of finding the worst cover I have ever seen for a classic. Behold: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/01/dantes-inferno-reprint/<br /><br />I'm not sure whether I'm glad or upset that it's only the Inferno, and not the whole of the Divine Comedy.Yuanchosaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13548189194253983277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-20214735955172733112010-04-14T18:17:51.923-04:002010-04-14T18:17:51.923-04:00Oh no. I am compulsive about reading the Pulitzer ...Oh no. I am compulsive about reading the Pulitzer winners. But this one sounds like it will test my resolve.Gilion at Rose City Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18080293172467000794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-36539824378870032992010-04-13T17:05:36.742-04:002010-04-13T17:05:36.742-04:00Did you read the novel? One howler of a passage do...Did you read the novel? One howler of a passage doesn't a navel-gazing make. I've not read Tinkers myself, in fact, hadn't even heard of it before today, but I'd be interested to hear why you think it fails, if that in fact is what it does. Regards, KevinKevinhttp://jkneilson.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-45669289184278127892010-04-13T12:57:20.515-04:002010-04-13T12:57:20.515-04:00I've got 30 pages left in the book, and I stil...I've got 30 pages left in the book, and I still don't know where I'll fall. On the one hand, the writing is frequently (but not always) a bit overdone. That quote you pull is horrible and as bad as it gets. Fortunately, there is actually a reason for some of that writing, as it takes often takes place when a man who considers himself a bit of a poet (and we know he's no good) is suffering from an epileptic seizure. Still, the writing does get in the way. On the other hand, I am enjoying it. Sometimes the writing is spot on, and I'm particularly enamoured by the way Harding is using time and the universe to discuss the mortality of three generations in New England.<br /><br />I have to ask, though, does anyone have another candidate? I wasn't thrilled with much of the American fiction of 2009. I'd love to hear what of worth was published last year.Trevorhttp://mookseandgripes.com/reviewsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-87631177598613544782010-04-13T12:46:11.374-04:002010-04-13T12:46:11.374-04:00"Saying something public" is an evocativ..."Saying something public" is an evocative and rather haunting phrase, at least to me with my work. The thing is...when you try to "say something public," you're not saying that in a vacuum. You're saying that smack dab in the middle of a huge...web of 21st century doubt about whether any belief in anything, or assertion of anything, is (a)arrogant or (b)simple-minded or (c)sentimental,or...(take it on down to z).Shelleyhttp://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-37554599552026834112010-04-13T10:55:20.587-04:002010-04-13T10:55:20.587-04:00Heaven forfend I do anything of the sort! Although...Heaven forfend I do anything of the sort! Although it is a good thing the author's name wasn't Sokal.Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-55003859546897488302010-04-13T06:05:29.395-04:002010-04-13T06:05:29.395-04:00Dwight,
What are you trying to do? Calm my hyster...Dwight,<br /><br />What are you trying to do? Calm my hysteria? Introduce some level-headed historical perspective?<br /><br />All the awarding of the Pulitzer to the bumbling <i>Tinkers</i> really demonstrates—you are right—is the taste of the <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/jurors/2010-Fiction" rel="nofollow">prize jury</a>, which included the great <a href="http://dgmyers.blogspot.com/2009/10/middle-passage.html" rel="nofollow">Charles Johnson</a>!D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-85757550909510739952010-04-13T01:07:57.776-04:002010-04-13T01:07:57.776-04:00So... trying to find the right words here... shoul...So... trying to find the right words here... should an award be evaluated each year by the worthiness of what wins? Can the value of an award be completely written off when something like Tinkers wins? If so, what does that say about other recent winners like Gilead, Middlesex, Empire Falls, or The Road? (granting plenty of room for hyperbole)Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-60713289209472901672010-04-12T21:37:10.707-04:002010-04-12T21:37:10.707-04:00Frankly, I was lost on "vitreous squares"...Frankly, I was lost on "vitreous squares" but I soldiered through the entire paragraph.<br />That quotation couldn't be more pretentious claptrap if it was written by a silly college girl in a poetry class.<br />Please oh please let the novel be literary hoax designed to expose the prize committee.panavia999https://www.blogger.com/profile/12022750065016664499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-20101951439280299562010-04-12T16:56:49.978-04:002010-04-12T16:56:49.978-04:00"Smoky arrangement of a set of rumors"? ..."Smoky arrangement of a set of rumors"? Like when the guys in "Mad Men" gossip? Not exactly "American Pastoral" or "Rabbit at Rest," or even "A Thousand Acres," which at least had a plot.Richard LeComtehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13986639064661051138noreply@blogger.com