Edmund was fortunate to have a friend like you. It must have been a tiny thrill when you overheard him repeating your witticisms to other people. It sounds like you shared many moments that meant a lot to both of you.
This is what a writer with spine and heart and focus can do. I love this so much and not only because it’s gay while being not gay which is my favourite kind of gay.
"that I want so badly, before the end of my own days, to try and get some sense of what the world actually is, and this inevitably draws me toward all that I am not."
How much better a world it might be if only we could all feel this way.
What a great essay! This was a treasure trove of people and ideas which are totally new to me. I cannot wait to dig in and explore them more.
“I mentioned to Edmund I’d been surprised there was no talk of books. ‘Yes, it’s so strange. That’s why I like you, because we really do talk about books,’ he said.” That is so heartwarming. And the roll call in this piece: Amis, Borges, Hollinghurst, Flaubert... Reading this, I felt I could almost hear the long, generous conversations you and White enjoyed. A delightful piece (and one I already look forward to rereading).
A heartfelt piece, but I don't understand this: "Raymond Carver... I cannot help seeing him... as an artist of the most extreme abstraction, his tales a stark play of animated statues, impoverished and intriguing, but quite alien from the miscellany and disproportion of life." Robert, the blind man in "Cathedral," is an "animated statue" who is "alien from the miscellany and disproportion of life"? The story is about someone who is the opposite of that.
He has a lot of different stories, not just “Cathedral,” but what I feel in general is that Carver restricts the ambit of his world to achieve certain effects. That isn’t a criticism – “Nobody Said Anything” is one of the most fascinating and moving stories I’ve ever read – but I don’t think anyone would say Carver aimed to show all the human types, emotional dispositions, classes etc. in the manner of, say, Balzac.
A lovely tribute to vitality and curiosity. Beauty is worth striving for, despite the pain it leaves in its wake. Thank you.
Thank you!
He gave perhaps the greatest advice I ever received in a Creative Writing workshop: “No one gives a shit about all of your childhoods.”
This is a really nice tribute to intergenerational literary friendship (one of the best kinds of friendship there is!)
Thanks so much for reading, and yes, you’re right.
Edmund was fortunate to have a friend like you. It must have been a tiny thrill when you overheard him repeating your witticisms to other people. It sounds like you shared many moments that meant a lot to both of you.
This is really wonderful, thank you.
Thank you!
This is what a writer with spine and heart and focus can do. I love this so much and not only because it’s gay while being not gay which is my favourite kind of gay.
I love this so much:
"that I want so badly, before the end of my own days, to try and get some sense of what the world actually is, and this inevitably draws me toward all that I am not."
How much better a world it might be if only we could all feel this way.
What a great essay! This was a treasure trove of people and ideas which are totally new to me. I cannot wait to dig in and explore them more.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for reading!
“I mentioned to Edmund I’d been surprised there was no talk of books. ‘Yes, it’s so strange. That’s why I like you, because we really do talk about books,’ he said.” That is so heartwarming. And the roll call in this piece: Amis, Borges, Hollinghurst, Flaubert... Reading this, I felt I could almost hear the long, generous conversations you and White enjoyed. A delightful piece (and one I already look forward to rereading).
So kind of you to say. I miss those conversations a great deal.
Lovely. My piece on his first five novels is worth reading for anyone who’s a fan of White
A heartfelt piece, but I don't understand this: "Raymond Carver... I cannot help seeing him... as an artist of the most extreme abstraction, his tales a stark play of animated statues, impoverished and intriguing, but quite alien from the miscellany and disproportion of life." Robert, the blind man in "Cathedral," is an "animated statue" who is "alien from the miscellany and disproportion of life"? The story is about someone who is the opposite of that.
Also, thank you for reading, I should have added that.
He has a lot of different stories, not just “Cathedral,” but what I feel in general is that Carver restricts the ambit of his world to achieve certain effects. That isn’t a criticism – “Nobody Said Anything” is one of the most fascinating and moving stories I’ve ever read – but I don’t think anyone would say Carver aimed to show all the human types, emotional dispositions, classes etc. in the manner of, say, Balzac.
I totally agree with this comment.