Philip Roth"Now you're talking! I would be wonderful with a 100-year moratorium on literature talk, if you shut down all literature departments, close the book reviews, ban the critics. The readers should be alone with the books, and if anyone dared to say anything about them, they would be shot or imprisoned right on the spot. Yes, shot. A 100-year moratorium on insufferable literary talk. You should let people fight with the books on their own and rediscover what they are and what they are not. Anything other than this talk. Fairytale talk. As soon as you generalise, you are in a completely different universe than that of literature, and there's no bridge between the two."
I was poking around on the internet and came upon this quote from an interview with Philip Roth. Later that same night, after reading the first chapter of Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, I read the introduction by Jay Parini and immediately wished that I hadn't, or at least that I had waited until I read the whole book.
Parini has some very strong opinions about Steinbeck's unvoiced reactions to his travels and experiences:
Parini has some very strong opinions about Steinbeck's unvoiced reactions to his travels and experiences:
" . . . there is beneath its surface a sense of disenchantment that turns, eventually, into anger. Steinbeck is never quite able to bring himself to say that he was often disgusted by what he saw on his journey, but the reader is left with that impression."I would have liked to have had the opportunity to discover for myself whether or not that was my impression, to "fight with the book on [my] own and rediscover what [it is] and what [it is] not." Would I have been able to tease out Parini's assessment on my own? I'm disappointed that I won't be able to find out.
3 comments:
I tend to read the introductions last or not at all. I think your experience has confirmed my belief in this practice.
Only a few books are enriched by literary criticism. (I have read some good articles on Pride and Prejudice and In Search of Lost Time.
The whole "publish or perish" phenomenon creates this surplus of esoteric blathering about books that's basically a pissing contest. Though I love literature and would love to dedicate myself to its study and appreciation part of the reason of NOT becoming a Literature Prof. with a PhD in the field is that there's too much arcane nonsense posing as important, too many snobs.
I can;t rread this because I am reading Travels wtih Charley.
Darling Daughter
I read what you wrote about Travels
With Charlie and it was very well articulated.
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