re P's intentions

[Robert Pirani]

At 07:46 PM 8/23/00 GMT, you wrote:

> I 
>admit to wanting to read them.

Guilty here too. But I am always a little hesitant, reading an author's
thoughts about his or her own work. In the same way there's a slight breath
of fear picking up a new book by an author that just knocked you flat.
Fear that it won't measure up (if it's another novel) or will destroy your
carefully constructed idea of the Person who wrote a book like Gravity's
Rainbow (if it's essays or letters). Being a permanent resident of
Reading's Camp Pleasure I usually give into the curiosity and read anything
a favorite author writes. But I can imagine another way live your reading
life, one where the evaluation of a book as a work of "art" (sorry, but you
know what I mean) is the prime motivator - and as arbiter of a sort of an
agon in the canon (to crib from Bloom) you want to treat each book on its
own terms as much as possible. Maybe some literary critics might feel that
is a more authentic stance to take, or at least one less likely to be
influenced by the critics own prejudices. Then there are more difficult
cases, like Ezra Pound -- would it be better to read the Cantos without
knowing that the author's anti-semitism was considerably more virulent and
participatory than the text itself reveals ? I wish I could, I think.
Wandering a bit here, but you folks are forgiving.

Cheers,
Robert