(np) Forward review of Bailey/Roth

[Erik T. Burns]

the best biography of Roth is the novel *Asymmetry *
<https://yalereview.org/article/fiction-review-asymmetry-novel>by Lisa
Halliday

On Mon, May 31, 2021 at 2:36 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> Philip Roth did not believe novelists did either. Reading in general
> actually.
>
>
> When he responded to my fan letter---90s---just knowing that
> I was in the book business made him respond in your way. (like so many
> since he was not
> online much, he may not have judged reading in general accurately if one
> does want to count online reading.
> (not of emails, etc. but of articles, stories, etc.)
>
> It is a lament for me but I'm just an old-fashiones old guy.
>
> But there will for beyond our futures always be some who stand out, who are
> the geniuses and they will get done.
> I would actually read a good biography of Willaim Vollman than try another
> of his magic mountains.
> We all want to read Pynchon's but it won't be easy or maybe much.
> Does anyone want to read a Houellebec bio over another Houllebecq? 🌵
> I'm in for the inevitable major Doris Lessing bio and maybe Nadine
> Gordimer.
> Paul Beatty's might be fun and informative outside my bubble.
>  Coetzee as an intellectual biography?
>
> Like that.
>
> On Mon, May 31, 2021 at 9:18 AM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > maybe you're right, Mark. I'm more interested in the future of such
> > biographies. I don't believe novelists have the same cache they used to.
> > not necessarily a lament here.
> >
> > On Sun, May 30, 2021 at 1:42 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> I am afraid I disagree with that meme (from articles) going around that
> >> he tried to control the narrative of his life post-life.
> >> Bailey had full access but Roth had NO countermanding conditions....no
> >> final read and edit.
> >>
> >> One of Roth's deepest themes is one CAN'T control one's life.....this is
> >> what happens to his characters who think they, like all of us so, are in
> >> free will "control' of our lives...
> >>
> >> All he did after he stopped writing was get his affairs in order as the
> >> phrase goes, reconnect with a lifetime of friends and acquaintances,
> play
> >> with other kids children, send
> >> working people who could not afford it to school for the career they
> >> wished they had; buy things for others......reconnect with his
> >> past.....time every day just to actively remember
> >> his past....
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sun, May 30, 2021 at 9:48 AM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> if there is any solace it's the fact that the time of the massive
> >>> literary biography is probably near its end. Times are different. The
> >>> number of worthy subjects is dwindling or voices have become so diffuse
> >>> (not a bad thing) or the state of publishing, novel writing as a
> career,
> >>> etc.
> >>> I'm not talking of literary criticism since I gather there will be
> >>> plenty of that for a slew of current writers in future. I mean a
> >>> traditional bio. who will really warrant one?
> >>> The irony of the Roth situation is his attempt to control the narrative
> >>> of his life post-life so like what he wrote about in many of his
> stories
> >>> while he was alive
> >>> Begs the question about Mr P of course. captive audience I know but I
> >>> cant think of another writer with potential for a trad biography. But
> like
> >>> the chance of any further new work by the man I remain highly in doubt.
> >>>
> >>> rich
> >>>
> >>> On Sun, May 30, 2021 at 8:13 AM Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> You probably knew the quote, I didn't. And I didn't want to support
> the
> >>>> tenor, only give an impression of the climate. (A man shouldn't have
> >>>> written this, if you ask me.)
> >>>>
> >>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >>>>
> >>>> >
> >>>> --
> >>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >>>>
> >>>
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>