Nov 16 2011

Nicole Krauss on writing

Robert Birnbaum sent around a link to his 2010 interview with Nicole Krauss (author of Great House) and I found it fascinating.  In particular, I found Krauss’s thoughts on writing intriguing.  The exchange below offers insight into why writers write; what makes them tick to use a cliché:

Cover of "Great House: A Novel"

Cover of Great House: A Novel

RB: Do you challenge yourself? For instance, do you set yourself to write about things that you haven’t written before or in a way that you haven’t previously? Ideas first or the process?

NK: For me writing is a long process of wandering and getting lost. I have no sense at all, setting out, what I am going to write. I think that will always, more or less, be the nature of my process. I can’t imagine being the type of writer who has a blueprint or a plan in advance that I more or less follow. Setting out, everything has to be unknown. I find that this allows very interesting and unexpected things to happen. It becomes an intuitive process, discoveries are made. That’s why writing has held my interest all these years, why it remains one of the only things in life that doesn’t finally bore me. If I knew what I was going to make in advance, and was equipped with all of the insight in advance, why would I pursue the project?

RB: This way of looking at things or being seems to be at odds with the planning for and of nurturing of children. Organization and planning are a great part of parenting

NK: Right.

RB: Is writing like bungee-cord jumping for you?

NK: I’m not sure what that means. But planning is certainly part of parenting. But intuitively responding to one’s child as he changes is even more critical. Being open to who he is, what there might be to learn from him, and how it might be possible to help him find the most comfortable way to live in the world as himself.

RB: What I am trying to get at is—I am not well organized, I always forget something—

NK: I understand. Life is filled with so many responsibilities, and limitations to who and what we can be. Unfortunately life is not an endless exercise in self-reinvention. You become who you are. You are formed by forces that bring you up into the world and you change, but not in epic or monumental ways, I don’t think. Or not very often, at least. Writing has always been for me the opposite of that. In my work I can become anyone. Inhabit any character. I can express all kinds of things that I might not otherwise think or be able to express. Everything is possible. That can be terrifying, but ultimately I think it’s thrilling and is the reason I continue to write.

 

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By Kevin Holtsberry • Interviews, Views • 0 • Tags: , ,

Nov 15 2011

The Merry Pranks of Till Eulenspiegel by Heinz Janisch , Lisbeth Zwerger (Illustrator) , Anthea Bell (Translator)

The Lisbeth Zwerger tour continues here at CM. Today it is Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks by Heinz Janisch.  Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger and translated by Anthea Bell.

Hans Christian Andersen Medalist Lisbeth Zwerger cunningly illustrates 11 folktales about Till Eulenspiegel, the famous sixteenth-century German folk hero, popular in legend as a shrewd trickster. In this handsome reissue, she chronicles Till’s pranks from his triple dunking at his baptism, to his funeral, at which he leaves a last trick for his mourners. Zwerger’s celebrated wit and insouciant style are the perfect complements to the antics of this notorious merrymaker.

I will be honest: I bought this one mostly for the art. I have a growing collection of folk tales and story books for children but I am not sure my kids would enjoy this one.  It is an interesting reference point for German folklore but it is mostly the art of Zwerger that drew me to the book.

And the art is playful, colorful and evocative.  As PW says, “Both art and text are distinctly quaint and European.”  This is another book that I would be tempted to cut up in order to use the illustrations as prints. But I am too much of a book person to perform something so sacrilegious.

The stories are simple and silly – so maybe they are exactly the sort of thing children would love. Keep Reading

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , ,

Nov 14 2011

The Tale of the Unknown Island by Jose Saramago

After reading the New York Times review of Cain, and a blogger review of Death Without Interruptions, by Jose Saramago I figured it was time I read some of his work.  Facing the reality of budget constraint, I headed to the library.  Being a fan of short and interesting fairy/folk tale type stories, I picked up The Tale of the Unknown Island while I was there.

Here is the publisher’s blurb:

A man went to knock at the king’s door and said to him, Give me a boat. The king’s house had many other doors, but this was the door for petitions. Since the king spent all his time sitting by the door for favors (favors being done to the king, you understand), whenever he heard someone knocking on the door for petitions, he would pretend not to hear . . .” Why the petitioner required a boat, where he was bound for, and who volunteered to crew for him the reader will discover as this short narrative unfolds. And at the end it will be clear that if we thought we were reading a children’s fable we were wrong-we have been reading a love story and a philosophical tale worthy of Voltaire or Swift.

It was an interesting and rather poignant story.  Not having read any Saramago before, I was not used to the style and structure of the writing: sort of stream of consciousness run on sentences.  It takes a while to get used to this; finding your rhythm and not being distracted by the unique style.

Once you get past that, however, there is an elegance to the simplicity of the story and the determination of the characters to go beyond the small world of their mundane existence; to seek uncharted waters and unknown islands despite everyone’s insistence that they do not exist.

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By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Nov 9 2011

How Civilizations Die

This weeks Coffee & Markets podcast guest is David P. Goldman aka “Spengler”, author of How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too).  My most excellent Co-Host Pejman and I queried Goldman about demographic changes (in the Muslim world in particular), their impact on politics and policies, and how the US can best position itself in this changing environment.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Interviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Nov 7 2011

Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq by Mark Urban

There is no doubt that the special forces of the United States have been heavily involved in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars since those wars’ initial stages.  However, many do not know how much assistance the Americans received from its allies, particularly the British.  Mark Urban highlights the efforts of British special forces to assist American special forces in taking down Saddam’s forces and the insurgents of al-Qaeda and Shia in his book Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq.

Here is a brief summary of the book from the publisher’s website:

When American and British forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, select teams of special forces and intelligence operatives got to work looking for the WMD their governments had promised were there.  They quickly realized no such weapons existed.  Instead they faced an insurgency—a soaring spiral of extremism and violence that was almost impossible to understand, let alone reverse.

Facing defeat, the Coalition waged a hidden war within a war.  Major-General Stan McChrystal devised a campaign fusing special forces, aircraft, and the latest surveillance technology with the aim of taking down the enemy faster than it could regenerate.  Guided by intelligence, British and American special forces conducted a relentless onslaught, night after night targeting al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups.

Urban provides a solid chronological history of the British special forces in Iraq.  Many people may see this book  as a dry history, but I would counter that it is not because Urban includes many details of the war that I thought would be top-secret.  For example, he describes how the American tracking of cell phones in Iraq helped the American and British special forces to find targets for their operations.  These operations eliminated or captured leaders in the insurgency.

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By Jeff Grim • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , , ,

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