I mention this because of Martin Amis' brilliant start to a (largely positive) evaluation of Don Delillo's lastest work in The New Yorker:
When we say that we love a writer’s work, we are
always stretching the truth: what we really mean is that we love about half of
it. Sometimes rather more than half, sometimes rather less. The vast presence
of Joyce relies pretty well entirely on “Ulysses,” with a little help from
“Dubliners.” You could jettison Kafka’s three attempts at full-length fiction
(unfinished by him, and unfinished by us) without muffling the impact of his
seismic originality. George Eliot gave us one readable book, which turned out
to be the central Anglophone novel. Every page of Dickens contains a paragraph
to warm to and a paragraph to veer back from. Coleridge wrote a total of two
major poems (and collaborated on a third). Milton consists of “Paradise Lost.”
Even my favorite writer, William Shakespeare, who usually eludes all mortal
limitations, succumbs to this law. Run your eye down the contents page and feel
the slackness of your urge to reread the comedies (“As You Like It” is not as
we like it); and who would voluntarily curl up with “King John” or “Henry VI,
Part III”
I notice he sticks to only English greats. I wonder what he would say about Tolstoy, who mastered both the epic novel and the short story? (The only one ever to do both.) While his later pieces were too often monotonal diatribes, he could still rock the world when he chose.
The entire review is worth your time, but spend time on the first page of the link and agree with his overall point, even if you disagree about his specific examples. (Though I agree with all of his specifics above and am thrilled someone is willing to classify Joyce and Eliot as they deserve. Later, I disagreed, finding Persuasion as one of Jane Austen's superior, not inferior, works.)
Amis does have some good points in this piece. I have been though, first time around,fairly underwhelmed by the DeLillo collection. Amis spent so much time going over past DeLillo work, I don't think he actually gives much of an endorsement of the collected stories. But, like you I think, I believe his points about how readers like who they like I is his central theme.The "half" we all truly like in a writer's work, seems to float and stretch a bit, but only so far. I've read DeLillo for years and think the collection actually works against appreciating his contribution to culture and literature. Thanks for your post.
ReplyDeleteI've also been underwhelmed by Delillo & agree that Amis basically endorses some of the older work & a couple of these stories.
ReplyDeleteI loved how he redefined authors though (especially Joyce, who I see as overrated, though I appreciate what he was doing), & liked his clear, hard eye at the start.