Friendship and fanaticism
No, I'm not wearing a beret. I am listening to Gershwin on a sunny Saturday morning, portents of an impending winter blast abound but I am warm, dressed and enjoying a cigar and some rancid coffee. I am also sober.
Yesterday while nursing a few pints in honor of Saturnalia, my reading of the Foote narrative became intertwined with a more general discussion of Ken Burns and popular history. It was polite conversation which broached the specific periodically and through that warm haze of alcohol I continued to appreciate my friends and the myriad directions of their influence. It was Roger who has engendered my interests in so many historians: Howard Zinn and Foote being only two recent examples. Ed endorsed Wilson Craig's Enemy at the Gates a few years back and such culminated in it being a selection for a fecund group discussion. My friend Mark keeps me honest per the classics (where I sorely lack) and more intellectual history. As for my friend Joel, countless avenues have been sought as a consequence. While he still depends far-too-much upon the crutch of theory but such is his livelihood. I picked up a novel by Ken Kalfus which I have coveted for sometime and it was holiday a few years back when Joel sent me collection of Kalfus' stories Thirst. I have never cared much for short stories but it appears that much of the currency of exchange between Joel and I has been in that anomalous (to my own interests anyway) format. George Saunders and Rick Moody being other examples thereof. It is towards other novelists that I exude a far more resonant gratitude. It was Joel that first picked up Faulkner albeit for grad school. I recall chiding him in his work on Sound and the Fury as to whether he had actually read the novel, as opposed to aping the critical responses. That said, it is uncertain as to when I would have embraced Mr. Faulkner and his vertigo of lyricism sans my friend's attention. Recently it has been Evelyn Waugh who has been the reference of note between that scholarly drunk in NYC and myself.
Indeed my friends have been a constant source of influence and inspiration. Irritation as well, but who wouldn't have it?
Yesterday while nursing a few pints in honor of Saturnalia, my reading of the Foote narrative became intertwined with a more general discussion of Ken Burns and popular history. It was polite conversation which broached the specific periodically and through that warm haze of alcohol I continued to appreciate my friends and the myriad directions of their influence. It was Roger who has engendered my interests in so many historians: Howard Zinn and Foote being only two recent examples. Ed endorsed Wilson Craig's Enemy at the Gates a few years back and such culminated in it being a selection for a fecund group discussion. My friend Mark keeps me honest per the classics (where I sorely lack) and more intellectual history. As for my friend Joel, countless avenues have been sought as a consequence. While he still depends far-too-much upon the crutch of theory but such is his livelihood. I picked up a novel by Ken Kalfus which I have coveted for sometime and it was holiday a few years back when Joel sent me collection of Kalfus' stories Thirst. I have never cared much for short stories but it appears that much of the currency of exchange between Joel and I has been in that anomalous (to my own interests anyway) format. George Saunders and Rick Moody being other examples thereof. It is towards other novelists that I exude a far more resonant gratitude. It was Joel that first picked up Faulkner albeit for grad school. I recall chiding him in his work on Sound and the Fury as to whether he had actually read the novel, as opposed to aping the critical responses. That said, it is uncertain as to when I would have embraced Mr. Faulkner and his vertigo of lyricism sans my friend's attention. Recently it has been Evelyn Waugh who has been the reference of note between that scholarly drunk in NYC and myself.
Indeed my friends have been a constant source of influence and inspiration. Irritation as well, but who wouldn't have it?
posted by jon faith at
12:23 PM
2 Comments:
Excellent, lucid commentary. Sorry about the rancid coffee. Home espresso is only a few hundred bucks away ...
Kind words Jon. You give me mucho inspiration to read and discover more and more. To steal the phrase; too many books, so little time. Thirty books for me this year, hopefully thirty five in 2005. Keep dangling the carrot(or pint)in front of me.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home