Comments on: What I read: the curse and blessing of genre

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:09:21 +0000

It surely is interesting to see both these things come together under so many shapes and forms! Curse and Blessing , in nearly anything …

By: Chris J. Miller

Chris J. Miller — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:53:50 +0000

I stay on top of my incoming comments, so one will never go entirely unread! Knowing how much you enjoy suspense novels, I’m astonished you didn’t discover the joys of LeCarré years ago. I’ve been a fan since college, thanks entirely to a generous RA who urged me to borrow his copy of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. (Which is well worth revisiting, if you never finished it.)

He’s not one to read for action, no… his novels are more psychological suspense than action-adventure, but he’s wonderful at it. He’s like Robert Ludlum, except with actual believable plots and characters. Smart, sophisticated politics, too.

By: phil from new york

phil from new york — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:44:31 +0000

I’m getting around to posting this comment so late that no one will read it, but what the hell. I did want to say a word about John Le Carré, since you mentioned him. Coincidentally, I just finished reading a well-preserved paperback version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and am now reading a well-worn, yellowed paperback of Smiley’s People (both courtesy of your dad’s substantial collection of paperbacks). I guess one can keep learning even at my advanced age of 60, because for the past 40-plus years, I was under the delusion that most of the Le Carré spy novels weren’t terribly readable. So I can attest that one can live and learn.

I suppose I can blame that mistaken impression on the James Bond phenomenon of my youth. I discovered the spy novel genre in 1963 after I saw Goldfinger. At the tender age of 15, I had never heard of James Bond or Ian Fleming before I saw the movie. But after I watched Sean Connery bring this guy James Bond to life, I was hooked. Over the next year or so, I read nearly every James Bond novel. To me at that impressionable age, Bond/Fleming was the holy writ of spy novels. I remember buying Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came In From The Cold in the mid-60s and putting it aside after reading only a chapter or two. It just didn’t have enough action for me. And so began my prejudice against Le Carré novels. (I did take time out to read The Little Drummer Girl in the ’80s because it was said to be faster paced than the Smiley stuff.)

Thankfully, I’ve learned the error of my ways. I am enjoying the Smiley novels immensely, especially in this post-Cold-War world. And I can’t help but visualize Sir Alec Guinness as the very un-Bond-like spymaster George Smiley. The great British actor was wonderful as Smiley in the PBS adaptations of Tinker Tailor and Smiley’s People that aired a generation ago.

By: Jincy Willett

Jincy Willett — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:26:36 +0000

Chris, what I like most about blogworld (and there’s a whole lot I don’t like–the “public diary” thing, where people just blather on about their favorite band and what they had for breakfast and how much they hate baby carrots) is just this opportunity–for critics and writers actually to talk to each other. It’s a semiprivate (because, let’s face it, hardly anybody reads our blogs) arena in which we can bat around ideas and agree and disagree with one another without getting all self-conscious and pompous about it, which would be unavoidable in a New York Review of Books face-off.

This is only the second time I’ve jumped into the fray, since (1) I’m not well-known enough to get much negative criticism, and (2) when it does happen it’s usually uninteresting, because there’s no underlying aesthetic principle. Wouldn’t it be great, though, if Updike Himself spoke up, and Proulx, and all the (living) rest? I mean, fat chance, but still, one can hope. Anyway, I hope you like Siege. Happy hols!

By: Chris J. Miller

Chris J. Miller — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:00:07 +0000

Hey, a comment from one of the actual authors mentioned! I’m surprised (but then Google is an amazing thing, isn’t it?) and gratified (especially at your civility in response to my criticism).

I’ll readily admit that I haven’t read WOTNBA, merely dipped in and skimmed a bit, but the whole psychologically-unhealthy-relationship-between-sisters thing really didn’t grab me, although the writing style was certainly admirably clever. IOW, based on first impressions I deemed it more like than unlike many of the other books I mentioned.

OTOH, I can’t help but be charmed by your amusing and very elegantly designed web site (linked above), not to mention this good-humored message, so perhaps I should give your writing another shot. I’ll also make a point of checking out Farrell’s book, which does sound fascinating—thanks for the recommendation!

By: Jincy Willett

Jincy Willett — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:50:23 +0000

Though saddened that you lumped me in with a bunch I don’t admire either, I very much enjoyed reading this. (I’m a big fan of The Reader’s Manifesto.) Also of Calvino–Cosmicomics being one of my favorite books of all time. Still, what’s quotidian and trivial about Cheever? I mean the short stories. (I’ll give you the rest.) Anyway, I, too, find most recent so-called literary fiction joyless. What I do, as a reader, is rummage happily through the out-of-print. Have you read The Siege of Krishnapur, by Farrell? If it’s in print, it’s only barely–I had to get it used; it won the Booker Prize a few decades ago, but nobody talks about it now, and it’s just fabulous. On the basis of this essay, I can guarantee you’d like it.