Blooming hell!

This week in my Theory class we looked at Modernist writers and James Joyce's Ulysses in particular. I have to be honest, I tried reading this book for about 7 months last year and got as far as chapter 6. I think I'd read each of those chapters 3 times because I was sure that if I could just get under the language I could work out why this book had been labelled the most important text of the C20th!

Then one day I read the following Joyce quote: "I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality" (R.Ellmann). Read completely out of context, this confirmed a suspicion I had that Joyce is an immortal narcissistic psycho whose sole purpose in life (and death) is to play sinister mind games with me. I rolled my eyes when I saw the Ulysses chapter on the course reading list. Of course it was! Joyce has single handedly hoodwinked the entire literary academia into believing that he "meant" anything at all. 

But then, in class we looked at something I had not seen before, the deliberately incomplete Schema for Ulysses:

LOOK AT THIS! It makes sense! There is so much detail, meaning, richness in every chapter. He wasn't just messing with us... he wasn't exclusively messing with us! He was doing something deliberate and meaningful.  And so, with my faith somewhat (though shakily) restored in there being a point to reading Ulysses, I will attempt to complete it in my end of year break. Not because I think it's going to enlighten or inspire me, but because it's important. He is described as forerunner, a leader in literature. Any author who invests so much into their experimental work, with no real chance of ever being recognised in their lifetime, is worth a closer look, right?

 

This is never going to be a pleasant read - any one who says that they love it are lying or mental. The last chapter, Penelope, is made up of 8 HUGE sentences in stream of consciousness - oh what delirious fun! (Serious question, would reading such a thing disturb the delicate molecular structure of the my eyeballs?) And if these supposed fans start throwing around terms like "subversive work of art" or encourage you to join them on a trip to Dublin next June 16th for Bloomsday, you may want to gently back out of the conversation OR point over their shoulder, yell "Look, half priced sheep kidneys" and then run away.

What books did you force yourself to read from start to finish, because it was important? 

The White Tiger

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga 

I've recently finished reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. I think this may be the author's first novel and he won the 2009 Pulizer Prize for it - seriously, where do you go from there Aravind??

Wickedly funny and at times very dark, this novel presented as a series of letters, written from midnight to 3am, by self profressed entrepeneur extraordinaire, Balram Halwai to a Chinese ambassodar visiting India. In his letters Balram sets out to give an account of his rise from the slums of "the darkness" to the servant of the rich to the glorious success he now has as an Indian businessman. Oh and did I mention he killed a man once.

Balram is an extremely rational and intelligent man. And when he begins his autobiography he depicts himself in a sympathetic light as a young boy and a resourceful but naive young man. This characterisation, combined with the present day Balram's matter of fact references to his act of murder make for an intriguing story. You find out pretty early on in Balram's letters who his victim was, but his close (at times almost intimate) relationship with this man only adds to the intrigue!You know how it ends, so what you really want to know as you read is why?!

Balram's blase account of shocking behaviour of the wealthy classes in modern India communicate how common corruption and tragedy are in that country. My facination with Indian authored novels can probably be boiled down to this baffling acceptance of daily injustice and humilation that a COLOSSAL number of people face. 

The representation of Indian society, the characters and the narration of this book are all equally impressive. There is a great depth to Balram. Though he depicts himself as an obedient, lowly and at times fearful servant, you get the feeling that this narrator is too calculated. This makes his account of events unreliable, but that's just part of the fun of this book.

If you're interested in India and you like heroes with dirty hands you'll enjoy this book. If you're a writer it is worth the read just to see Adiga's narrative style. I'm sure it's not revolutionary, but he puts a clever twist on story telling and has created a brilliant character.

Favourite quote: "You were looking for the keys, but the door was always open."

Do you like your heroes to be noble or do you prefer that they have a dark side? What's the protagonist in your current WIP like?

Lit Theory minus the Snobbery

Literary Theory, A very short introduction by Jonathan Culler

Thinking about study, I've gone back to an introductory book that I bought in my first year of university. This is a really refreshing and engaging little book about, let's be honest a pretty dull topic. Well I find it facinating, but I definately think I'm in the minority - you don't hear too many people raving about Lit Theory.

Anyway, if it is your cup of tea, or you're looking to start a Literature course, I highly recommend this book for the following reasons:

1. It's very very short (handy for those of us whose handbags, or manbags, are groaning as it is).

2. Culler writes incredibly concisely and is easy to understand despite the fact that he is explaining quite challenging ideas.

3. Culler has a great way of building on knowledge chapter by chapter.

4. Culler uses really simple examples - literary, pop culture or everyday language - to explain complex theories.

5. There are great resources at the back of the book, designed to explain differing schools of thought and terminolody and to inspire further reading.

Now saying all this, I did not get through this entire book when I was actually in first year. But this is due to the fact that I got by on an absolute minimal amount of effort in those days (quite shameful really). My second attempt at reading this book has been far more successful and rewarding.

Are you interested in Literary theory? How do you think Lit Theory helps writers? Also, out of interest, which novels do you consider to be literary? 

4 lessons from an unsuspecting mentor

I've finally finished reading Midnight's Children. What an epic, witty, tragic story! Rushdie is so gifted and while I don't admire everything about him or his philosophies, I am so astonished | bewildered | mesmerised by his creativity. I've been re-reading the introduction to the book, in which he outlines the origins of the characters and his family and friends' reactions to having been caricatured in the story. He highlights the political climate in India when he wrote the book and then reaction to its publication. He also talked a little about working in advertising at Ogilvy's while writing MC. 

These are just a few of the lessons I've gleaned from this short introduction, written retrospectively in 2005.

1. Writing is not the best get rich quick scheme going.

Rushdie had published a novel - Grimus - prior to Midnight's Children, but even after publication and after receiving an advance on the second novel, he could not give up his day job, well he did for a bit but he had to ask for it back! If you want to be a writer, you need to love writing for what it is, not for the potential ca-ching that you've been pinning your dreams and your financial future on. If you are truly talented and hard working, maybe (just maybe) you can be very successful!

2. Fear not.

 
Don't be afraid to offend people that are close to you with your thoughts, memories and expression. Personal history is a huge repository for joyful, bizarre, interesting and macabre inspiration. Use with wisdom, but don't stifle it.

3. It's not that common knowledge.

In the 80s Indian university students said to Rushdie: "I could have written that book, I knew all that stuff."

Use what is known to your locale - most people outside of your ethnic group, geographical setting, culture, heritage, etcetera, may just be completely fascinated by facts that are common knowledge to your people.

4. You don't need more free time/inspiration, you need a kick in the backside.

The following quote from the Introduction really inspired me:

On Friday nights I would come home to Kentish Town from the agency's offices near Waterloo Bridge, take a long hot bath, wash the week's commerce away, and emerge - or so I told myself - as a novelist. As I look back, I feel a touch of pride at my younger self's dedication to literature, which gave him the strength of mind to resist the blandishments of the enemies of promise. The sirens of ad-land sang sweetly and seductively, but I thought of Odysseus lashing himself to the mast of his ship and somehow stayed on course.
Still, advertising taught me discipline, forcing me to learn how to get on with whatever task needed getting on with, and ever since those days I have treated my writing simply as a job to be done, refusing myself all (well, most) of the luxuries of artistic temperament.

Just like the rest of us, he had to work a day job out of necessity. But because he loved writing, he MADE time for it. Don't cry and moan about how little time you have to write because of your "real" life, let the challenges you face sharpen you, teach you to be disciplined. (I say this to myself -  the biggest whiner of them all.) You need a strong (perhaps stubborn) mind to resist the blandishments of the enemies of promise. The enemies of promise are your job, your busy-ness, your distractions, the kids, the cat, the bag of giant triple choc cookies, sleep!. If you don't resist these you'll never prioritise your writing/creativity/happiness!

So, what's your day job? What is it teaching you about writing or expressing your creativity? How does it help your writing?

Ps. As I'm writing this on the train, the girl next to me is reading a copy of Midnight's Children! I love that.

Fighting with my protagonist

I am so frustrated with my novel's protagonist Adin.

As a little girl she is tenacious, annoying, deceptive, vulnerable, funny and lovable, well I love her and that counts.

As an adult, I just can't connect with her. Which is a problem; how could anyone else ever connect with her if I can't - she came out of my brain!

Grown-up Adin is elusive and cunning. She’s made a career out being shrewd and lifestyle out of isolation. These characteristics are interesting enough, but having a conversation with someone like this is an experience akin to hitting your head repeatedly against a rather thick, abrasive wall.

I've tried to write out an interview with Adin to get more from her, but it felt much like the above. How can your own imagination be cagey and distrustful?

I've left it until now, and focussed on volume volume volume. But now I have a plan. Over the next little while, I’ll be thinking and blogging about novels and the characters that I love as a means of digging deep and finding the things that draw me to them. What makes me commit hours of my precious (and often limited) attention to reading their stories?

I'll start soon with ‘Rahel’ from my all time favourite book: "The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy. Wish me luck!

Do you have any tips or tricks on characterisation? I’m totally down with the weird stuff people do for their art, so please share!

Lessons from Bird by bird

another bird friend of mine

I've almost finished Bird by bird by Anne Lamott. This book has been so meaningful and real to me. Lamott writes incredibly honestly, generously and humorously about her experiences of writing which makes it easy to identify with (and breathe a sigh of relief about) the writing process and writerly lifestyle: the fight against self-loathing, the fears, the sudden bouts of intense hypochondria, the distraction of inanimate objects that start talking to you… yes yes YES!

There are so many things, practical and beautiful, that I've gotten from reading this book. Here's the short version of things that I'm changing and adding as a result:

1. Selecting two people that I love, whose opinion I respect and who I know will be gentle with my fragile creative soul - to read the 2nd draft of the novel. I've picked one already - based on the fact that a) she is one of my biggest fans. b) she is THE most encouraging person to have EVER graced the earth c) Once I bought an expensive red dress which I later tried on to show her and she had the guts to say: "I think you could do better" and then went back to the shop with me to return it.

2. I’m on the look out for some writers that I can form a very small writing group, to meet once a month to discuss our work and workshop extracts of our writing together. So if you live in Sydney and you want to write more and you think we'd get along, drop me a line. We can take things nice and slow, I promise I'm not one of those desperate people who will tell you that I love you after the first  discussion, I won't emotionally blackmail you by talking about all my ex-writing partners , I'm very  encouraging and just to repeat, I am not desperate at all, no , not me, never...(call me).

3. I'm going to focus on pooling my collection of scribbles, memories, sentences, and moments in a lovely box of inspiration and this lovely blog of inspiration.

4. I’m going to start writing gifts for others, in the form of essays, biographic and fictional novellas, poems (I’m not a poet, but it will be amusing to attempt, if only so that I can have deep and meaningful conversation about musicality with my song writing friends), stand-by obituaries, letters, limericks, shopping lists etcetera.

Busy and exciting year ahead!

Bird by bird

I've started reading "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott, lent to me by a rather clever and thoughtful friend of mine.

I like it already:

First reason being, I have this rather disturbing predilection for birds - not real ones, which I find creepy and unnerving, but pictures and figurines, that seem to be taking over my apartment (see exibit A. above.) I am well on my way to becoming one of those kooky old ladies who wears all her best dresses and hats simultaneously, never leaving her small home filled with stuffed cats.

Second reason being Anne Lamott is very funny and very easy to read.

Thirdly, the book is quite thin, which helps me not to feel guilty about starting to read a fourth book concurrently. Do you ever feel like the other books you're reading get a bit despondent, depressed when you ignore them? I think they jostle for my attention and begin doing curious things such as turning up in odd places such as the bath, a handbag, a dream or other people's conversations.

I feel that this will be a good one:)

zz

Midnight's Children

I'm reading Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie. I love that I have more time in my life for reading novels. I fear this will not be so when I begin my Masters next year. But let's not think about that just yet. Let's think about Rushdie and what a clever man he is.

I love that he doesn't waste a word; every scene, every character is deliberate and woven into the metanarrative. The sheer magnitude his stories is inspiring! 

My favourite Rushdie extract so far? "Their curled bodies are a pair of question marks at the end of the puzzling sentence of the day" – The ground beneath her feet.