David Leavitt on the state of fiction, MFAs, etc
'The writing... that's where I put my faith': Tobias Wolff
Opera Australia's My Fair Lady
Imagine a dedicated words venue: Bennetts for books
About Me
- Louise Swinn
- I am a freelance writer of fiction and non-fiction, and one of the two founding partners of sleeperspublishing.com Email me at louise at sleeperspublishing dot com
3 comments:
I was amused and terrified to see that David Leavitt's list of things he doesn't like includes almost everything I DO like:
"first person/present tense stories (though we have published several of these), second-person narrations, stories set in bars and/or about drunks, gratuitous violence thrown in for shock value, sloppiness, stories written in dialect (especially Southern and Irish), stories set in the future, stories in which the focus is on something that doesn't happen."
I guess I won't be sending my latest masterpiece to Subtropics afterall:
"It's 2039. You're drunk, as usual, and you're killing time at your local Elephant and Wheelbarrow. 'Oh aye, me laddy,' you say, nostalgically, wrapping your arm around the shoulder of your midget best friend,'Ye wouldna believe how I'd be likin' to burn off me own arsehool with a giant laser, t'be sure, t'be sure.' Your midget best friend contemplates glassing you in the rectum for sport, but reluctantly decides against. You both turn back to the cricket."
It's such a pity because that's the best opening I've seen in years: "It's 2039. You're drunk, as usual, and you're killing time at your local Elephant and Wheelbarrow."
It does sort of feel as though he's narrowing it down there. I agree about the dialect and the sloppiness but stories set in bars! My gad! Are there any other sort, Mister Nora?
The Wolff profile is great - missed that when the novel came out (which I love). Great stuff, thank you. What a nice story about Ellen Barkin and Tobias' ma, too.
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