tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post8998718750081501294..comments2024-03-11T11:06:36.576-07:00Comments on Total Dick-Head: Frank Rose's Unabridged Lethem InterviewRagle Gummhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13951340313214410331noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-59735347401256505062007-05-31T18:48:00.000-07:002007-05-31T18:48:00.000-07:00Cool, I'm looking forward to it.The thing is, I do...Cool, I'm looking forward to it.<BR/><BR/>The thing is, I don't necessarily agree that the interest in his life is a bad thing. I think it's a sign that he's made it; we're watching the culture weave a myth around him, just as it inevitably does with most great writers. Think about F. Scott Fitzgerald, and you immediately think of the tragic figure: the doomed alcoholic, his wife in an asylum, selling screenplays to an indifferent Hollywood, etc. You can probably come up with similar caricatures of Hemmingway, Bukowski, or pretty much any other popular writer you'd care to name.<BR/><BR/>Also, as I'm sure you know, it isn't always appropriate to ignore an author's life when reading their work. You can find the seeds of "The Death of Ivan Ilych" and "Domestic Happiness" in "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina," but you won't really understand the shift until you read "A Confession." Nor does this rather kooky shift detract from the power of the work. (Anyway, I think Dick is much more of a home-grown Tolstoy than a home-grown Borges -- I read the "The Divine Invasion" with the same bemused interest with which I regard Tolstoy's later stories, whereas Borges' later stories seem exactly like his earlier ones, only more esoteric.)<BR/><BR/>For whatever reason, it is not enough to be a great writer -- one must also be an interesting person. Personally, I agree with Oscar Wilde, who wrote something about the best poets being the ones who lead the most banal lives, but that just won't fly in the popular imagination. We just have to accept that fact, ignore it when necessary, and move on.Nicholas Musurcahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02201008562621016204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-32250354316808099542007-05-31T10:56:00.000-07:002007-05-31T10:56:00.000-07:00You know Nicholas you're right. But this whole Tir...You know Nicholas you're right. But this whole Tired/Wired thing demonstrates a real danger: that Dick's life will subsume his work and PKD will become some old nutjob we can all have a good chuckle about. "What a crazy old coot!" Sorry, but it got to me. <BR/><BR/>More about Dick's work coming up...Ragle Gummhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13951340313214410331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184123882936370131.post-85742851989660093672007-05-31T05:00:00.000-07:002007-05-31T05:00:00.000-07:00"That's pretty lousy advice from some pretty lousy..."That's pretty lousy advice from some pretty lousy fans." Rrrraaow. Easy there, tiger.<BR/><BR/>I mean, I sympathize, but come on -- picking on Wired (which is fun to read, but wrong about nearly everything) and Newsweek (which is always written at a third-grade level) is a little bit beneath you. I think most of us want to hear more about Dick's work and less about the failings of other journalists.Nicholas Musurcahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02201008562621016204noreply@blogger.com