tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851264164198134050.post8763855674653717748..comments2024-01-31T23:13:22.565-05:00Comments on Flying Houses: The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach (2011)JKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16199023801433187878noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851264164198134050.post-9767657065264430372015-06-11T01:40:54.983-04:002015-06-11T01:40:54.983-04:00Well said!!!Well said!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851264164198134050.post-1762614071863190302015-02-25T17:46:15.040-05:002015-02-25T17:46:15.040-05:00Once again, thank you for your comment. I think y...Once again, thank you for your comment. I think you are spot-on about the "voice of a generation" appellation. As much as I want to champion Tao because of our shared history, I honestly enjoyed "The Art of Fielding" more than "Taipei" (which is my favorite by Tao), with the huge exception of the ending. The ending doesn't ruin the book for me, but I think Harbach could have easily lopped it off and ended on a significantly stronger note. <br /><br />In general, this was a much more satisfying read than any of Tao's because the characters felt more fully fleshed-out rather than placeholders with different names. <br /><br />But I think Tao has made a very powerful statement with his oeuvre over the past six or seven years that is only growing more prescient and true--personifying the zombification of the masses via smartphone culture. Basically, I am looking forward to whatever he does next, even if it is similar to his past work. JKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16199023801433187878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851264164198134050.post-72663052695000824082015-02-16T21:28:56.950-05:002015-02-16T21:28:56.950-05:00I'm glad you basically enjoyed "The Art o...I'm glad you basically enjoyed "The Art of Fielding." One of my closest and oldest friends, someone who's a well-published European writer, absolutely detested it. When I read it -- and why I recommended it -- I was reading it simply for pleasure, and so didn't think about it for as long and hard and deeply as you do, but I enjoyed it a lot. It was kind of an escape from a not-fun time in my life.<br /><br />I actually thought Mike was the most interesting character in the novel, but it's so long since I read it that I can't articulate why except that I found his actions maddening (you point out one example, the number of law schools he applies to) and at times inexplicable. <br /><br />Harbach tells a decent story. I think I may have recommended it to you in regard to a discussion about Tao Lin or perhaps another author like him, who seems to have no real interest in "stories." There's something to be said for the non-narrative impulse in fiction -- the only character that seems to interest Lin and the writers associated with them are the stand-ins for the author himself or herself, which is why I suspect they are better poets than novelists or short fiction writers.<br /><br />Clearly, Harbach -- like a whole bunch of others by writers under 35, the majority of them I admire -- is nobody's idea of "the voice of a generation." But I think the odds are good that he will have a longer career than Lin because pretty much every novelist proclaimed "the voice of a generation" has shot their wad by 35, sometimes earlier. <br /><br />And if they haven't, it's really hard to transition yourself from a generational writer simply because there's always a younger, more interesting (by virtue of being younger in our media world) generation coming up.<br /><br />Writers who focus on characters in their late 30s and older will never be considered "the voice of a generation" because -- and I guess this is ageist (against younger people) or natural, because readers consider them to be either more representative of all people or the "default" in the way that white is the default race in Western culture.<br /><br />That Harbach can create a character around 60 at least as credible as the characters closer to his own age doesn't mean that the "voice of a generation" writers can't also do this, though I don't think Lin has shown he can; maybe they just aren't interested in trying.<br /><br />I think some of what I said in recommending other writers was apropos of your remark about Lin being the greatest writer of your generation. He may very well have already peaked. John Updike, who might have managed in his Rabbit novels to stay a generational voice -- but he could do a lot more -- said in "Bech: A Book" (very funny) something like this: "Writers aren't like scholars, they're like athletes: they get beer bellies after 30." <br /><br />Maybe 7 or 8 years ago some younger writers were imagining online how many books they'd have published before they hit 30. I'd think the more interesting challenge is how many they'll publish after they hit 30.<br /><br />"The Art of Fielding" feels to me like a middle-aged writer's book. Which is to say. . . who the hell knows.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com