The Invisible Library

More Fury Than Sound (Thinking)

Over at Bookslut they have an interview up with Author Steve Almond who has this to say about literary criticism in America:

�It’s like they’re saying we can’t just write about literature and the emotions expressed in literature, we need some sort of hook or angle that will appeal to our readers. Fuck off on that. Find beautiful books to advocate for. Why do you want to read a bad review, so you don’t buy a bad book? Save yourself a little money? It makes sense if it’s Stephen King or Tom Clancy, but why not just find the books that deserve to be praised and direct people to them? Maybe that’s too Pollyanna-ish.

I don�t think it�s Pollyanna-ish at all. That�s what I�m all about, toiling away here in the Invisible Library, ranting and raving about the books I love. Go back and read the little blurbs and reviews I�ve written so far. Not one is of a book I hated. I don�t write about hate. I write about the books that inspire me. That make we want to kick out the stained glass windows and light the moon on fire. That make me want to write, in other words.

The literary culture of America, and very likely the world is in trouble. It�s become deluded, self referential and isolated form life. Most books written these days are about writing, not about living. And that is the problem, authors who don�t go out and mix it up and knock themselves down trying to live the hell out of life. We writers have the reputation of being a bunch of anemic, closet cases, fearful of sunlight and strong wine. And to a degree it�s well earned. To write you must isolate yourself and let your insides come out.

But then you have to stuff �em back in, tie up your boots and go to a Goth club and drown yourself in vinyl skirts and slender thighs clad in fishnet stockings. Or something, anything. That way you have something to write about other than what your therapist said last Tuesday and how that made you feel. Fuck your therapist. Get drunk and spit fire onto paper and then, find a publisher.

The Forgotten Ones

So, to recap, here�s my list of the 10 books left off the lists of the 100 best of the 20th century:

1. The Hearing Trumpet, Leonora Carrington
2. In watermelon Sugar, Richard Brautigan
3. Radio Free Albemuth, Philip K. Dick
4. Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
5. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
6. Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins
7. Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges
8. The Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll Pataphysician, Alfred Jarry
9. The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
10. Illuminatus!, Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea

My friend and regular correspondent, Jason offered an alternative list, though with the caveat that these sorts of lists are highly flexible and are apt to change from day to day.

1. Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
2. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
3. Radio Free Albemuth, Philip K. Dick
4. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
5. Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
6. 60 Stories, Donald Barthelme
7. Mason & Dixon, Thomas Pynchon
8. Steppenwol, Herman Hesse
9. Transparent Things, Vladimir Nabokov
10. Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Heck, I made a substitution or two along the way and while writing the reviews, thought of a dozen more that I could have mentioned in their place. Best Of lists are, by their nature, subjective. I don�t think anyone but the most egregious egomaniac would dispute this fact.

You may have noticed we both included Radio Free Albemuth, which I suppose makes us Dick heads. His list has Mason & Dixon, while mine almost had The Crying of Lot 49. I just thought it didn�t fit into the top ten. It�s certainly in the top twenty though, along with Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed and another Vonnegut classic, the Sirens of Titan.

The great thing is that there is such a wealth of wonderful literature from the 20th century that this list could go on forever. So far the 21st century isn�t shaping up too hot but hey, it�s just started and I haven�t published my novel yet, so there�s still hope.