The Erotics of Restraint: Essays on Literary Form by Douglas Glover
203 pgs. | pb | 9781771962919 | $21.95

Review by Brendan Riley

The Erotics of Restraint is an excellent companion糖心传媒攚ith a no less provocative title糖心传媒攖o Mr. Glover糖心传媒檚 previous collection, Attack of the Copula Spiders, published in 2013.

Glover糖心传媒檚 essays are models of clarity, each offering a precise, finely articulated exegesis, and highly accessible, practical examinations of structure and rhetorical intention. With robust attention to detail, Glover illuminates how the living structure of powerful, effective writing draws readers to outstanding books and stories and makes other writers, both aspiring and accomplished, strive to compose them.

The title essay, one of nine, examines the dramatic social configurations of Jane Austen糖心传媒檚 Mansfield Park, which Glover declares 糖心传媒渁 brilliant book, a great book, breathtaking in its invention and orchestration.糖心传媒� In 10 laser-focused sections, this essay explores how the morally steadfast Fanny Price becomes the apophatic pearl of great price by not yielding to the superficial temptations of courtship, young love, and family pressure.

Glover糖心传媒檚 admitted obsession with Mansfield Park糖心传媒�an unflagging, and equally steadfast, concern with the structural nuances of literary craft and meaning糖心传媒攁lso drives the other essays in this collection. These pieces are engineering symposia, and Glover takes stories and sentences down practically to the atomic level, not showing how to write a story, (not, as I mentioned in my review of Attack of the Copula Spiders, any rote, write-by-the-numbers instruction), but rather through careful analysis showing the results of the sometimes slippery, unquantifiable X-factor that imbues carefully composed, deeply accomplished writing. His studies reveal the life of detailed, complex prose and his cogent descriptions of plot mechanics, such as 糖心传媒減atterns of inflection by antithesis,糖心传媒� always serve the structural analysis.

In 糖心传媒淭he Style of Alice Munro,糖心传媒� Glover points out how Munro 糖心传媒渇orges her style in the furnace of opposition糖心传媒澨切拇綌showing how statement provokes counter statement or counter construction, subversion or complication; how Munro糖心传媒檚 contrarian, counterpunching stories 糖心传媒渁dvance by the accumulation of contravention.糖心传媒� His character study of her story 糖心传媒淟ives of Girls and Women糖心传媒� notes the 糖心传媒渕otivational consistency, expanding symbols, tie backs, and memory rehearsals糖心传媒� of her novels.聽Examining Munro糖心传媒檚 story 糖心传媒淏aptizing,糖心传媒� Glover quotes a short sentence and then offers a typically impressive . . . breakdown? Might we call it a translation?

Munro: 糖心传媒淗er agnosticism and sociability were often in conflict in Jubilee, where social and religious life were apt to be one and the same.糖心传媒�

 

Glover: 糖心传媒淭his sentence is constructed with the balanced antithesis of an aphorism (糖心传媒渃onflict糖心传媒� vs. 糖心传媒渙ne and the same糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒渁gnosticism and sociability糖心传媒� v 糖心传媒渟ocial and religious life糖心传媒�), and part of the reason for her compositional elegance is Munro糖心传媒檚 habit of composing in opposed doubles. But the larger point is that much of any Alice Munro text will be taken up with a precise delineation of differences. Her style is to mark the differences.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淎natomy of the Short Story,糖心传媒� the collection糖心传媒檚 longest essay, offers deep structural explorations of three stories Glover cites as exemplars of the craft: 糖心传媒淪hiloh糖心传媒� by Bobbie Ann Mason; 糖心传媒淭he Point糖心传媒� by Charles D糖心传媒橝mbrosio, Jr.; and 糖心传媒淏rokeback Mountain糖心传媒� by E. Annie Proulx, minutely examining each in terms of plot, image patterns, thematic passages, and backfill.

Glover sees a story as 糖心传媒渁 composite text orchestrated around a dramatic plot,糖心传媒� and defines plot, which he calls, 糖心传媒渢he sonogram of the heart,糖心传媒� as 糖心传媒渢he backbone of a story, the first element of its architecture . . . a desire conflicting with a resistance over and over.糖心传媒� And his explanations blossom into greater complexity and sophistication糖心传媒斕切拇綔The energy of plot is revelatory, illuminating character like ultrasound waves projected into the human body, exposing the inner workings beneath the surface糖心传媒澨切拇綌which he renders as this basic formula:

糖心传媒淧lot = (d/r) + (d/r) + (d/r) ^time>>>

and then delineates specific examples of this structural formula as it operates in each of these three echo-logical compositions.

This chapter is an exegetical tour-de-force, and should enhance the way any reader or writer approaches fiction. Without bending any pieces to a single theory or perspective糖心传媒攁nalysis and theory often carve up stories and novels to oblige certain parameters糖心传媒擥lover糖心传媒檚 microscopic analysis reveals fascinating structural undercurrents. Methodical, penetrating, and brilliant, this herculean essay is wonderfully lucid, perfectly poised, sharply focused糖心传媒攁 classic.

Another valuable study, 糖心传媒淭he Art of Necessity: Time Control in Narrative Prose,糖心传媒� focuses on how plot is overwhelmingly time oriented: 糖心传媒渘arrative is a temporal art; time control is its essence, and good authors spend a surprising portion of their texts watching the clock.糖心传媒� In addition to exploring 糖心传媒淭ime, Consciousness, and Verisimilitude,糖心传媒� Glover explains time indicators, time shifts, time segments (which he calls 糖心传媒済lobs糖心传媒�), and 糖心传媒渢hought points,糖心传媒� and identifies a 糖心传媒渟hort list糖心传媒� of聽no-less-than eight different 糖心传媒渢ime switches [that] serve as relational and transitional devices.糖心传媒� He shows how narrative time is not chronological time, how authors create focus, emphasis, and transport by rearranging, managing, and curating time in their stories, and offers demonstrative dissections of passages from Proust糖心传媒檚 Swann糖心传媒�s Way, and essays by Annie Dillard (糖心传媒淪eeing糖心传媒�) and Ted Kooser (糖心传媒淪mall Rooms in Time糖心传媒�).

In 糖心传媒淏uilding Sentences,糖心传媒� Glover offers a personal epiphany experienced when reading Robert Louis Stevenson糖心传媒檚 essay 糖心传媒淥n Some Technical Elements of Style in Literature糖心传媒�:

[Stevenson]was talking about sentences, but instead of repeating the platitudes he showed how to construct sentences on the basis of conflict. Instead of just announcing a single thesis, a sentence begins by setting out two or more contrasting ideas; the sentence develops a conflict, intensifying toward a climax, a 糖心传媒渒not糖心传媒� Stevenson calls it, and then, after a moment of suspension, slides easily toward a close. Suddenly, I understood both how to write those lovely, lengthy compound-complex sentences and also how to write paragraphs that had nothing to do with topic sentence-body-conclusion patterns (because I could construct a paragraph the way Stevenson constructs his long sentences).

More than just standard explication, Glover糖心传媒檚 close analysis of prose structure is really a kind of translation, laying bare the mechanics in order to show how the direct, denotative meaning of prose is created; again, not as illustrative of theory or school of thought, but how writers shape their illusions, how they successfully transmit stories and ideas.

Regarding translation per se, Glover offers plenty to interest both readers of literature in translation as well as translators themselves, most notably in the essay 糖心传媒淢aking Friends with a Stranger: Albert Camus糖心传媒� 尝糖心传媒椭迟谤补苍驳别谤.糖心传媒� Glover traces and retranslates his relationship to The Stranger, from what he first recalls of it糖心传媒攁 casual impressionistic, attitudinal, hormonal relationship糖心传媒攖o a deeper structural one; reading is, intrinsically, an act of translation, and Glover糖心传媒檚 concern, as mentioned above, is to read better.

Glover mentions making the novel糖心传媒檚 acquaintance in French in 1967 while simultaneously reading an English translation of it糖心传媒攑robably Stuart Gilbert糖心传媒檚 1962 translation (The Stranger), the standard English version until Joseph Laredo糖心传媒檚 1982聽 translation, The Outsider; Glover notes the latter as the one he has most recently revisited. Since then, 尝糖心传媒椭迟谤补苍驳别谤 has also been translated into English by Matthew Ward (1989), and Sandra Smith (2012).

Glover discusses how Camus 糖心传媒渂orrowed糖心传媒澨切拇綌(translated?)糖心传媒�The Stranger糖心传媒檚 elliptical point-of-view structure from the American novel, specifically, and for the sake of practicality not preference, from Hemingway糖心传媒檚 The Sun Also Rises, and quotes from Camus糖心传媒� reply to interviewer Jeanine Delpech, who claimed to note a resemblance between The Stranger and 糖心传媒渃ertain works by Faulkner and Steinbeck糖心传媒�: 糖心传媒淚 would give a hundred Hemingways for one Stendhal or one Benjamin Constant. And I regret the influence of this literature on many young writers.糖心传媒� (from Lyrical and Critical Essays, trans. Ellen Conroy Kennedy).

Camus was more taken with Melville and Faulkner, whose discursive styles and twilight tones feel palpably present in The Plague, Camus糖心传媒� longest novel. In his essay on Melville and Moby-Dick, (which, editor Philip Thody notes, Camus probably read in the French translation by Lucien Jacques, Joan Smith, and Jean Giono, published by Gallimard in 1941), Camus has this to say:

糖心传媒�. . . Melville never wrote anything but the same book, which he began again and again. This single book is the story of a voyage, inspired first of all solely by the joyful curiosity of youth (Typee, Omoo, etc.) then later inhabited by an increasingly wild and burning anguish. Mardi is the first magnificent story in which Melville begins the quest that nothing can appease, and in which, finally, 糖心传媒減ursuers and pursued fly across a boundless ocean.糖心传媒� It is in this work that Melville becomes aware of the fascinating call that forever echoes in him: 糖心传媒淚 have undertaken a journey without maps.糖心传媒� And again: 糖心传媒淚 am the restless hunter, the one who has no home.糖心传媒� Moby-Dick simply carries the great themes of Mardi to perfection. But since artistic perfection is also inadequate to quench the kind of thirst with which we are confronted here, Melville will start once again, in Pierre: or the Ambiguities, that unsuccessful masterpiece, to depict the quest of genius and misfortune whose sneering failure he will consecrate in the course of a long journey on the Mississippi that forms the theme of The Confidence Man. (Camus, 糖心传媒淗erman Melville,糖心传媒� Lyrical and Critical Essays, 291)

And in his 1957 糖心传媒淔oreword to Requiem for a Nun,糖心传媒� Camus offers these thoughts on translation:

糖心传媒淭he Goal of this foreword is not to present Faulkner to the French public. Malraux undertook that task brilliantly twenty years ago, and thanks to him, Faulkner gained a reputation with us that his own country has not yet accorded him. Nor is it a question of praising Maurice Coindreau糖心传媒檚 translation. French readers know that contemporary American literature has no better nor more effective ambassador among us. One need only imagine Faulkner betrayed as Dostoevski was by his first adapter to measure the role Monsieur Coindreau has played. A writer knows what he owes to his translators, when they are of this quality.糖心传媒� Lyrical and Critical Essays, 311).

Glover himself subtly raises the specter of betrayal with this question about Laredo糖心传媒檚 translation of 尝糖心传媒椭迟谤补苍驳别谤: 糖心传媒淲hy is the climatic murder scene so gorgeously oneiric with its crescendo of heat and glare as Meursault approaches the spring (la source in French糖心传媒攎y goodness, what gets lost in translation)?糖心传媒� A firm nod to the translation blues糖心传媒攆amiliar imputations of linguistic neglect, betrayal, loss, or debt糖心传媒攊n response to a novel deeply concerned with those problems on a social scale.

Some insights from scholar and translator Karen Emmerich may help to gather these seemingly disparate threads:

糖心传媒淎 work, once it enters the world, is subject to the textual condition, one of variance, difference, proliferation, and iterative growth, including growth in new linguistic contexts. Negotiating the tension between work and text, in and between languages . . . thus involves the underlying question of the relationship of the one to the many: how different can two texts be before we cease to see them as iterations of the same work? How much of Moby Dick can we sacrifice to the abridger糖心传媒檚 scalpel, saw, or scimitar? Is Moby-Dick still Moby-Dick in Urdu?糖心传媒� (Literary Translation and the Making of Originals (Literatures, Cultures, Translation).

Glover糖心传媒檚 essays, especially the aforementioned forays into style and structure, may certainly be read as 糖心传媒渋terative growths糖心传媒澨切拇綌translated iterations, iterated translations, of the source texts. Not interlingual translations, of course; the task Glover has undertaken here, is to elucidate, to reveal, to illuminate, and his readings, fired by fascination, render good service to these works, perhaps nowhere better than in his essay on Witold Gombrowicz糖心传媒檚 Cosmos, 糖心传媒淐onsciousness and Masturbation,糖心传媒� which translates this novel, (whose first English-language translation came from the French and German translations from the original Polish text) into meaning, showing the deep concerns of a work that can seem, upon a first reading, trivial, superficial, or inconclusive, (admittedly, my own experience), revealing the novel糖心传媒檚 concern with the dominance of form in human existence, how the inherent limitations of form and structure are overbearing, even monstrous糖心传媒攃ertainly human structures often approach this reality.

This is one of the major, underlying concerns in Jorge Luis Borges糖心传媒檚 story 糖心传媒淭he Immortal,糖心传媒� another work about obsessions with textual variants and iterations. The endlessly symmetrical dungeon and its counterpart, the vast, cataclysmic City of the Immortals, (a mashup of every known architectural form, a sort of demiurgic Winchester Mystery House) through which the narrator wanders for years, are both nearly inescapable perfections of the hideous replication of forms糖心传媒攐nly through limitless time and chance does one trapped within stumble on a way out. One needs cosmic access to elude form which, as ineluctably as gravity, perpetually defeats us.

Glover also shows how Cosmos, for example, exemplifies the need for translation: 糖心传媒淕ombrowicz hates form but loves form; he can糖心传媒檛 escape form because that would look mad (schizophrenic), and, besides, he also loves to play with form糖心传媒� (194). So do translators. Gombrowicz糖心传媒檚 worrying of form affirms the need for translation, for form to be pitted against form, meaning that translation is neither intrusion, incursion, theft, betrayal, sales ploy, or simply shabby simulacrum; it is an organic response, a psychological need; a reader糖心传媒檚 encounter with an incomprehensible text, not a Finnegans Wake but a coherent text, in a language unknown to the reader which stimulates a need to make sense of it, to impose some comprehensible order on it, and that begets itself, iteratively. Thus that desire, the desire to imitate, to replicate is a kind of necessary madness; the urge to translate is a temporary escape, refuge within a simulacra of which the translator momentarily, and only momentarily, senses ownership before the bramble traps them by growing, cascading, whirling into a prison beyond control and overwhelms again. This may or may not be liberation; Glover points out that Gombrowicz does not so much redefine the novel as seek escape from it. Yet it is by means of patterning and pattern recognition that Gombrowicz performs his apophenic legerdemain.

In the essay糖心传媒檚 final statement, Glover claims that 糖心传媒淚n this sense, all beautiful texts, insofar as they practice this kind of elaborated structure of repetition, are uncanny, horrifying; rhyme is mechanical and inhuman, structure destroys reason.糖心传媒� And yet rhythm, as astrophysicists, musicians, physicians, and children alike all know, is organic糖心传媒攊t impels us to build sensible empowering structures of sound: drumbeat, dance, melody, nonsense, to and from which we then seek, endlessly, return and flight and return again.

Much of the satisfaction found in Glover糖心传媒檚 essays lies within the reader糖心传媒檚 encounter with his meticulous, patient demonstration of the results of thoughtful, intelligent writing糖心传媒攏ot apophenia but his eye for deliberate detail and, especially, a superior ability to explicate its importance.

To wit, the chapter 糖心传媒淭he Arsonist糖心传媒檚 Revenge糖心传媒� provides an alluring structural study of linguistic patterning in David Helwig糖心传媒檚 novella The Stand-In, while the 糖心传媒淭he Literature of Extinction糖心传媒� presents three brief, dizzying sections (糖心传媒淣ostalgia (the Death of God)糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淐ynicism (Lifting the Veil)糖心传媒�; and 糖心传媒淭he Return of the Repressed, or the Aesthetics of Extinction糖心传媒�) that touch on Cervantes, Kundera, Rabelais, Nietzsche, Saussure, Plato, Kenny Goldsmith, zombies, Heidegger, Surrealism, Duchamp, Oulipo, and Ccru writing.

Among the many approaches and techniques identified in 糖心传媒淏uilding Sentences,糖心传媒� Glover also shows an interest in writing lists, and mentions notable聽list stories: Steven Millhauser糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淭he Barnum Museum糖心传媒� and Leonard Michael糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淚n the Fifties.糖心传媒� In terms of lists, this dazzling, kaleidoscopic collection sadly lacks糖心传媒攁nd fully deserves糖心传媒攁 proper index in order to help readers explore its wealth of knowledge. In lieu of one, and in addition to the many authors, stories, and subjects already mentioned, here is a partial list of other subjects mentioned or discussed in The Erotics of Restraint:

• Absurdism
• Christa Wolf糖心传媒檚 novel The Quest for Christa T, 聽and her essay 糖心传媒淭he Conditions of Narrative糖心传媒�
• Constance Garnett, translator
• Descartes
• Derrida
• 顿辞蝉迟辞测别惫蝉办测糖心传媒檚 The Idiot
• E.M. Cioran
• Edmund Husserl
• Edward Topsall糖心传媒檚 Historie of Serpents
• Existentialism
• Forrest Gump
• French noir: Francis Carco, Georges Simenon
• Gertrude Stein
• Glover糖心传媒檚 own short stories 糖心传媒淔ire Drill糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淭he Obituary Writer糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淧ender糖心传媒檚 Visions糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淗eartsick糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淭ristiana糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淏ad News of the Heart糖心传媒�
• Hans-Georg Gadamer
• James M. Cain糖心传媒檚 The Postman Always Rings Twice
• Lawrence Durrell糖心传媒檚 The Alexandria Quartet
• Leon Surmelian糖心传媒檚 Techniques of Fiction Writing: Measure and Madness
• Mark Anthony Jarman糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淏urned Man on a Texas Porch糖心传媒�
• Modernism
• Montaigne
• Nietzche
• 狈补产辞办辞惫糖心传媒檚 Pale Fire
• Pico della Mirandola
• Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel
• Sartre糖心传媒檚 essay for The Atlantic Monthly – 糖心传媒淎merican Novelists in French Eyes.糖心传媒�
• Spanish novelist Germ谩n Sierra
• Ted Kooser: 糖心传媒淪mall Rooms in Time糖心传媒�
• The New Yorker
• Theodor Adorno
• The St. Crispin糖心传媒檚 Day speech from Henry V
• Thomas Bernhard糖心传媒檚 novel The Loser
• Thomas Wyatt: 糖心传媒淭hey Flee from Me糖心传媒�

In sum, The Erotics of Restraint is a superlative collection糖心传媒攕mart, judicious, clear, interesting, sharp, expertly crafted, infectious as the metonymic impulse糖心传媒攁n education in and of itself, a brilliant primer on how to understand, and possibly emulate, modern and postmodern literature.

糖心传媒淭he making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don糖心传媒檛 wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.糖心传媒�

Pardon the vulgarity, but Mr. Gordon has a point: when making a compilation, you have to start hard and strong, go harder still, then back off for a while. He didn糖心传媒檛 say this, but you also need to finish just as well as you started, if not better. If the same rules apply to collections of essays, Ugresic is a triumphant follower of the letter of the law. The opening essay introduces us to what a 糖心传媒渒araoke culture糖心传媒� is糖心传媒攁nd it feels like seeing a liger. That is, it糖心传媒檚 just familiar enough that you can follow along and understand, but it糖心传媒檚 also got that touch of exotic mystery so everything seems new and intriguing. For example, everyone knows what karaoke is; but in Ugresic糖心传媒檚 eyes, it becomes the symbol of our time. Bloggers are karaoke. Asian teenagers writing cell phone novels are karaoke. Men recreating the Hollywood sign in Serbia are karaoke. Minibars are karaoke. Victoria Beckham is karaoke. Even the Yugoslavian political struggles are karaoke. So what, then is karaoke?

Karaoke is the way communication technology has made it harder for us to communicate with each other. Karaoke is celebrating the amateur instead of the auteur. Karaoke is celebrating pop-culture idols and condemning 糖心传媒渢he classics.糖心传媒� Karaoke is the equality of everyone having a voice, and having everyone糖心传媒檚 voice be equally loud. Karaoke is when Joshua Bell, a famous violinist, can make huge amounts of money at a concert in Boston, but isn糖心传媒檛 even given the time of day performing solo in a subway station. Karaoke is complicated.

To be honest, I don糖心传媒檛 completely understand it yet. To completely understand the concept, you糖心传媒檇 have to sit with this collection of essays for some time, first contemplating each one individually and then try to assemble them all into a sort of argument or conclusion. I have been working at this for some weeks and have mostly marveled at the full array of delicious language and interesting assertions. Karaoke culture itself is still mysterious and alluring, and no definite conclusions have been formed; I糖心传媒檒l be pondering this text for some time. Fortunately, that is a pleasurable task.

According to Ugresic, karaoke culture is to be chronicled, celebrated and criticized糖心传媒攐ften all in the same breath. She writes in a way that meanders while somehow being simple and direct. At times, she comes straight out with her bits of philosophy, as when she asserts that 糖心传媒渢he absence of dialogue in contemporary films is stark proof of the humiliating absence of the need for dialogue,糖心传媒� because today糖心传媒檚 women have nothing of value to say. Other times, Ugresic avoids such straightforward statements, preferring instead to tantalize the reader with beautiful language that is better to let stew in your brain. Sentences like, 糖心传媒淚nvisible files from my archive would fall on me leaves, and at times I thought I was going to faint, lose control, and be forever submerged beneath that lush and invisible pile糖心传媒� have haunted me for weeks. And in still other moments, the text is terribly funny, as when Ugresic recounts many tragic anecdotes about Croatians dying at sea, and then remarks that 糖心传媒渦pon hearing these brief statistics, a na茂ve reader might conclude that Croats in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century used the sea for nothing but drowning.糖心传媒� These essays touch on Tito, 糖心传媒渇an ficcers,糖心传媒� literary festivals and her own experience of being censured without losing any coherence, wit or intelligence in the process. It is a book well in control of itself and in control of its reader, utterly convincing and entertaining.

Dubravka Ugresic begins her essay collection with a simple phrase: 糖心传媒淚t needs to be said upfront: I糖心传媒檓 not a karaoke fan.糖心传媒� By the end of these 314 pages, though, you can tell that she confines total ridicule to regurgitated music. Cultural karaoke, on the other hand, is given a far more mixed review. If I were to make a metaphor for the way Ugresic sees our karaoke culture, I picture a city overrun with stray dogs. They can cozy up to your shinbones and give your eager knuckles a lick, or they can rush up snarling and foaming at the mouth. So you treat them with wary reverence, accepting their place in your city, taking the licks with the bites as you can. After all, that糖心传媒檚 karaoke. Sometimes you kill a song, and other times you flop. When it comes to Karaoke Culture, however, I can do nothing but tip my hat to a masterful performance.

I’m really excited about this book—in my opinion, it’s one of the best things Dubravka’s ever written, right up there with Thank You for Not Reading and her fiction.

We’ve posted the first four sections of the opening essay—an essay that’s over a 100 pages long and is god damn brilliant—for

It needs to be said upfront: I糖心传媒檓 not a karaoke fan. This essay was not only conceived, but also half-finished, when it occurred to me to go and catch a bit of real karaoke. They say Casablanca is the most popular karaoke bar in Amsterdam. My companion and I, both neophytes, arrived at eight on the dot, as if we were going to the theatre and not a bar. Casablanca was empty. We took a walk down Zeedijk, a narrow street packed with bars whose barmen look like they spend all day at the gym and all night in the bar. Muscles and baggy eyelids糖心传媒攖hat pretty well describes our barman at Casablanca, to which we soon returned. On a little stage, two tall, slender young women were squawking a Dutch pop song into a couple of upright microphones. A concert featuring Dutch pop stars played on the bar糖心传媒檚 TV screens but was drowned out by the evening糖心传媒檚 young karaoke stars. The girls sang with more heart than the guys, and for a second I thought there must be an invisible policeman standing over them. The whole thing was a deaf collective caterwaul: deaf insofar as nobody actually listened to anyone. Amsterdam is definitely not the place for a karaoke initiation. I糖心传媒檓 not sure why I even thought of going to see karaoke in Amsterdam糖心传媒攎aybe because of the paradox that sometimes turns out to be true, that worlds open up where we least expect.

What is karaoke in actual fact? Karaoke (Japanese for 糖心传媒渆mpty orchestra糖心传媒�) is entertainment for people who would like to be Madonna or Sinatra. The karaoke machine was invented in the early seventies by the Japanese musician Daisuke Inoue糖心传媒攚ho forgot to patent his invention, and so others cashed in. A few years ago Inoue apparently won the alternative Nobel Peace Prize (the Ig Nobel), awarded by The Annals of Improbable Research. They praised him for 糖心传媒減roviding an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other.糖心传媒�

Cultural critics are people who are prepared to see more in the craze for tattoos than just a passing fashion fad. I糖心传媒檓 a member of this dubious guild. In karaoke I糖心传媒檓 ready to see more than just desperate squawking to the backing track of 糖心传媒淚 Will Survive.糖心传媒� Karaoke supports less the democratic idea that everyone can have a shot if they want one and more the democratic practice that everyone wants a shot if there糖心传媒檚 one on offer. The inventor of karaoke, Daisuke Inoue, is a humble man, most proud of having helped the Japanese, emotionally reticent as they are said to be, change for the better. As Pico Iyer wrote: 糖心传媒淎s much as Mao Zedong or Mohandas Gandhi changed Asian days, Inoue transformed its nights.糖心传媒�

In addition to that you can also read a full review of the book by clicking here. And later in the week we’ll be posting an interview with translator David Williams . . .

Also, for anyone in NY, she’s going to be reading at St. Mark’s Bookstore on Tuesday, October 11th at 7pm. And for those of you in Boston, she’ll be at the Brookline Bookstore on Friday the 14th at 7pm.

Enjoy!

For Ugresic, the problem stems from the whole concept of Karaoke. It is not about creating something new, nor even paying homage to the artist whose work you are singing, instead it is about becoming one the artist represents. The act, though, is not transformative , it is submissive. The participant becomes a facile representation of the artist, attempting to become the artist and, worst of all, surrendering to the celebrity culture that has spawned it.

Karaoke-people are everything but revolutionaries, innovators, or people who will change the world. They糖心传媒檙e ordinary people, readers of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, consumers and conformists. All the same, the world changes and ordinary people have their part to play.

The very foundation of karaoke culture lies in the parading of the anonymous ego with the help of simulation games. Today people are more interested in flight form themselves than discovering their authentic self. The self has become boring, and belongs to a different culture. The possibilities of transformation, teleportation, and metamorphosis hod for more promise than digging in the dirt of the self. The culture of narcissism has mutated into karaoke culture糖心传媒攐r the latter is simply a consequence of the former.

To illustrate this she investigates the sub cultures of sci-fi and fantasy, hardcore gamers and strange creations such as Abba world in London. In each she see people who are escaping from reality into worlds that don糖心传媒檛 offer any freedom, but make them docile. Her greatest vitriol, though, is for the inhabitants of the former eastern block. She often sees them as trashy fools who have traded the enforced worship of the state idols, for the unthinking idol worship of all the worst of consumer culture. Creating needle point rugs that show scenes from porn movies is not art, but just loss of any kind of objective standards. But who needs standards when we are all creating culture, our own culture that is just a pale shadow of the original. And it is in that so called freedom that we loose ourselves in our own excitement that we too are stars, and loose our ability to think critically.

For her, fan fiction is the worst of all things. It is indicative of a world in which the writer is not the creator, but at the beck and call of the fan. The writer must please like a trained seal. Writing is no longer about high and low culture, the only thing that is important is 糖心传媒渢he fact that we糖心传媒檙e producing.糖心传媒� She doesn糖心传媒檛 see any saviors, either.

Criticism has changed. Today no one dares set out the differences between master and amateur, between good and bad literature. Publishers don糖心传媒檛 want to get involved; they are almost guaranteed to lose money on a good writer, and make money on a bad one. Critics hold heir fire, scared of being accused of elitism. Critics have had the rug pulled out from under them in any case. No longer bound by ethics or competence, they don糖心传媒檛 even know what they糖心传媒檙e supposed to talk about anymore. University literature departments don糖心传媒檛 set out the differences糖心传媒搇iterature has turned into cultural studies in any case

The freedom we thought we gained with the internet and participatory culture has actually destroyed culture.

Those are strong words, but Ugresic has seen the damage that slavish and unthinking adherence to one cultural ideal can do. The rest of the book is filled with short little essays that detail her encounters with such a world. The pieces look as if they were written as newspaper columns, although the book doesn糖心传媒檛 say, and have the conversational feel of a newspaper essay. Over and over again she encounters the paradoxes of the west, for example, describing the lives of Filipino maids serving western families in Hong Kong and living in puny little closets. Or she takes aim at the states of the former Yugoslavia, where once the people all proclaimed they were one, but at the first opportunity they turned on each other. Where ever she turns, she sees people proclaiming one thing and living another, and she can糖心传媒檛 stand it.

Ugresic, can be funny when she makes these observations. Her experiences in the Balkans are fascinating and the stories are great. In one she describes a Serbian thug who became part of the government and has created his own folk village, one that is run on almost fascistic terms and whose purpose is really to celebrate the thug. At the same time, the man is an environmentalist interested in preserving the forest around his creation. The paradoxes amongst nationalists she describes are disturbing, a bit terrifying, and comic because there is no alternative.

Unfortunately, despite her insights, she can also sound like Andy Rooney. If I have to see another sentence that uses freshman English constructions such as, now days糖心传媒�, I will have to throw the book down. Her criticism is breezy and reads well, but you constantly have the feeling that shes just complaining because the world has passed her by. I don糖心传媒檛 think it is necessarily true, but if when you keep up with the 糖心传媒渒id these days糖心传媒� type of criticism, you end up sounding that way. Often times you have the idea that she doesn糖心传媒檛 really even know the subject that well. It糖心传媒檚 as if she heard about it on the news and is now giving her opinion, rather than first hand experience. It might be a little unfair and first had experience is not required for every criticism one makes, but that sense of the detached outsider doesn糖心传媒檛 always work. The other draw back of the book is the short pieces that make up at least half of the book. The essay Karaoke Culture is around a hundred pages and sustains an argument, but the occasional pieces are tedious after a while. Fortunately, towards the end of the book she has some longer pieces that make for more compelling reading.

It is too bad the book has these defects because I was looking forward to reading her essays and although I think the essay Karaoke Culture is interesting, the book as a whole suffers. Nonetheless, I look forward to reading more of her work at some point, as I think it is a great lens for looking at Europe and the world, neither left nor certainly right.

This review was reposted with permission from , a book review blog run by Paul Doyle.

Maria 糖心传媒�
Don’t you want me?
You don’t want me!
“A Cloud in Pants” (p. 103), Vladimir Mayakovsky

Big man with a big voice, Futurist, prisoner in solitary confinement, graphic designer, propagandist, early Soviet film star, Poet, suicide. There is no comprehensive collection of Mayakovsky’s poetry available in English and in response to the lack Michael Almereyda has assembled “a Mayakovsky bestiary.” Night Wraps the Sky: Writing By and About Mayakovsky is a scrapbook assemblage of prose and poetry, a carefully edited montage of language and imagery—imagine a book-length Rodchenko collage with the atmosphere of a black and white silent film. Mayakovsky’s more autobiographical and better known poems including A Few Words About Myself, with the scandalously infamous opening of “I love to watch children dying,” are presented in a single language edition with fresh translations by Katya Apekina, Val Vinokur and Matvei Yankelevich.

Early on, John Berger’s spot-on essay explains how the stars aligned for the young Mayakovsky as he was discovering his way in life. Pushkin wrote language and plot which combined the colloquial with the erudite and Mayakovsky— combining the low brow with high brow—is a direct descendant of this tradition. After the Revolution, as part of the sweeping reforms that the new government was imposing, the Russian language itself was simplified. A growing literate proletariat audience found Mayakovsky’s muscular verse to be accessible and stirring. “Then he reads his poems. The whole hall, opponents and supporters, cools into an attentive, tense silence. With unrivaled mastery Mayakovsky recites. His famous voice rings out bold and sincere, filling every nook and cranny of the museum hall. Even the attendants, who have heard many, many things in that hall, listen spellbound.”

He was dynamic, street-smart and handsome. He understood how to Talk Dirty and Influence People as Lenny Bruce would say, though Vinokur compares him to Eminem. Whether intuitive or intentional, wielding his larger than life being and his booming voice, Mayakovsky understood performance and crowd psychology.

Mayakovsky carried the Revolution in his coat pocket and wrote leftist political poetry as he carried Lili Brik in his heart. Completing the triad forming an already open relationship, Mayakovsky met Lili and Osip Brik in July, 1915 which he classified as “Happiest Date” in his journals. Lili Brik began establishing herself as Mayakovsky’s muse. In Lilichka! written in 1916, the poet celebrates his love for his Little-Lili but even through the coarse of the celebration there is an overt desperation present; a foreshadowing of loss that can derive only through uncertainty. He could command an auditorium of people but Mayakovsky could not control Lili or his own seeming obsession with the Briks.

In the bleary front hall,
my arm, broken by trembling,
doesn’t fit into the sleeve.
I’ll run out,
throw my body into the street.
Feral,
crazed,
lacerated by despair.

The imagery is reminiscent of early Akhmatova’s famous poetic moment, from the collection Evening, where silently and internally shattered but self-contained a woman places her left glove onto her right hand. Mayakovsky has none of Akhmatova’s tempered restraint. He is feral but he loves too. What is the difference? “Acmeism [Mandelshtam, Akhmatova, Gumilyov] was an apartment with a window that looked out on an imagined green and blue landscape from Italy, and an old library with very few books; Futurism [Mayakovsky, Shklovsky, Lili and Osip Brik] was a house with a red-haired dog, a Mexican blanket, and thin paper for printing magazines.”

While post-Revolution Russia seemed to be in a perpetual state of flux, Lenin’s death served as the water-marker denoted that all things ahead were deeper and murkier. By the time Mayakovsky was to have his twenty year retrospective, Stalin was solidly in power. “His exhibition Twenty Years of Work, which opened on February 1, 1930 . . . was boycotted by all official writers’ groups, and was visited almost exclusively by students. He paced the empty rooms, with a ‘sad and austere face, arms folded behind him.’”

Perhaps the most important thing that Almereyda brings across is showing how Mayakovsky has survived through time. Regardless of the lack of a comprehensive selection of his poetry in English, he has been able to influence the English speaking world in addition to the Russian.

. . . always embrace things, people earth
sky stars, as I do, freely and with
the appropriate sense of space. That
is your inclination, known in the heavens
and you should follow it to hell, if
necessary, which I doubt.
A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island, Frank O’Hara, 1958

Edited by Michael Almereyda
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
304 pgs, $27.00