Meredith Sue Willis's
Books for Readers #108
April 28, 2009
I just returned from the events marking the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Columbia University sit-ins, and I intend in the next issue of this newsletter to discuss some memoirs and other books that touch on this period. This issue, however, is going to be praise of three special books that you will have to search out rather than stumble over in a pile at your local Barnes & Noble. The fact that these books are being published by extremely small presses is yet another sign of the importance of not depending on the big stores and the few big review outlets to guide your reading.
The books, which all happen to be by people I know and respect, are a memoir, THE GROUND UNDER MY FEET by Eva Kollisch; a collection of poems, THE ANIMAL WITHIN, by Rebecca Kavaler; and a novel, THE KING OF SWORDS, by Miguel Antonio Ortiz.
Eva Kollisch, who has been a guest columnist in this newsletter (see archive71-75 ) and whose first book I reviewed in the very first issue of this newsletter (archive1-5.html#1 ), has written a fascinating mix of fiction and memoir about her personal past and the past of Austria. The situation is that a middle-class, intellectual, secular Jewish family is living outside of Vienna just before the Second World War. The mother is a poet in the German language and a lover of German culture. After all, this is her native land. But Hitler annexes Austria, and all Jews are at terrible risk, and the family flees. Eva and her two brothers escape on the famous kindertransport to England and then eventually to the U.S. Her mother is the last out, and comes very close to not making it.
Kollisch’s pieces are about the about casual anti-Semitism of pre-war Austria, about her parents, about her relationship to Austria– and about the girls she knew there, Jew and gentile. All her stories are offered up with élan and precision. One essay is about a group of Jews of her mother’s generation in the New York area who try to keep the culture and literature that inspired them alive, even after the horrors of Germany. One essay is about Kollisch’s reluctant reunion with her gentile Austrian schoolmates after sixty years. The Austrian women turned out to have had, in fact, more physical suffering during the war than she did, a teenager on Staten Island, New York. At first, she is unable to remember these playmates, and she is initially not interested in forgiving and resuming relations, but in the end, she reaches out and returns for a visit to Austria.
Sometimes when Kollisch wants to engage deeply in the experience of the long-ago child, she writes the stories as fiction. There is one excellent meditative piece in which the adult and the young girl discuss the past together. I was delighted with the freedom Kollisch allows herself, as if she had considered all the memoir versus fiction discussions and simply tossed away the rule book to write what fit which story. In every mode, however, Kollisch writes with deep introspection and honesty: this is what I remember happened, here are some documents (especially letters between her parents in the wildly stressful time when her mother was still in Austria); this is what I think probably happened, but since I’m not sure, I’ll do it with a made-up version of the child I was. (A sample from the book is available online in the HAMILTON STONE REVIEW at kollisch.)
The second book I want to recommend here is much-honored fiction writer Rebecca Kavaler’s collection of poems, THE ANIMAL WITHIN. Kavaler, who died this year, was a short story writer, novelist, and then, in her final years, a poet. She is a perfect example of the sort of under-rated writer who should be rediscovered and enjoyed. I recommend all of her work (see her website ) , but these new poems are an especial revelation with their pellucid explorations of language, form, and psychological states. For example:
The Animal WithinHomage to Sir Thomas Browne
We, who supposedly contain all Africa and her prodigies,
are revealed for what we are only in the dying
when this flesh, once apostrophized as too too solid,
has proven renderable as any carcass and in the process
manufactured hollows where hillocks of cheeks once smiled,
then weeded out the overgrowth of hair to uncover
a tenderness-evoking curve of skull,
a property we had thought
only of the newly born.The mirror reflects no longer a unique face but the template
of the race: uncles, aunts, cousins far removed, some ancestor
who left no trace in family history yet surfaces now like
a species long thought extinct hauled up from the ocean’s depths
and when that dissolves what is left
but the animal within
which we made so much of.
Finally, I want to tell you about Miguel Antonio Ortiz’s novel KING OF SWORDS. At first glance, this appears to be a family saga with the satisfactions of nineteenth century fiction: an omniscient viewpoint, philosophical ruminations, explorations of the levels of a particular society, early twentieth century Puerto Rico. The story-telling is formal and leisurely, and a single dramatic action has long-term fatal consequences. It is also a love story, or perhaps several love stories, and is rich with passion, violence, and insights into the time and place.
However– and here’s where things get really interesting– it is in no way an old-fashioned novel, but rather something new and extremely original. The revelation of the fatal action mentioned above, for example, comes at the end of the story, not as a solved mystery, but as a revelation. This at once solves the modern problem of how to end a novel (weddings no longer have the impact they once did) and throws brilliant light on all the events and dramatic moments that came before. It recasts everything that came before, which was engaging and gripping in its own right. The ending gives insight and meaning to the preceding pages, and also demonstrates one of the ideas the novel plays with– the impossibility of avoiding the past, which makes the present sometimes tragic but also precious.The style contrasts leisurely description and narration with runs of crisp dialogue, almost minimalist in their untagged flow, and it is studded with surprising passages that are like extended metaphors grown into fables:
[It was as if] his mind were merely a tree standing in a forest where that thought, like a bird, arbitrarily chose to land. In the natural surroundings, several sequences of events are possible: the bird might merely fly off to find a more convenient place to rest for the moment and only occasionally return; or it might find that part of the forest totally inadequate and fly on, never to revisit; or indeed, it might feel totally at home in that particular place and build a nest, lay eggs, and raise offspring, spending a complete season in that one tree. Of course, the tree has no choice in the matter, and only the bird determines the course of action. The question then becomes whether Aurelio’s mind can be compared to such an object, for although it had the property of being able to provide a leafy home to a hovering thought, it also had the ability to transform itself at will into something totally uninhabitable by an intruder. At the moment, Don Aurelio wished for a breeze strong enough to shake the branches and cause the bird to take flight.... (pp. 269 - 270.)
The novel is the work of a writer with a great depth of literary understanding, enormous technical skill, and a determination to write in exactly the way his story needs to be told.
MY NEXT ONLINE CLASS COMING UP IN JULY
I'm offering a four-session online creative writing class called Summer Stories during the month of July 2008 for writers of memoir and personal essay as well as short story and novel. The class is appropriate for beginning writers but will give ample stimulation to advanced writers who want to move forward with their projects. Students who have taken this class in the past will find new exercises included and, of course, new responses to new work. There will be exercises and individual feedback on up to 1000 words per week. Sessions will be posted online and emailed on July 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2008, with homework due a week later. The class will close as soon as it is full. For more information, see Summer Stories .
GOOD NEWS!Allan Appel’s new novel THE MIDLAND KID: TALES OF THE PRESIDENTIAL GHOSTWRITER is now available at The Midland Kid . This novel is a pre-emptive strike on the Bush legacy in the form of a comic novel of a liberal ponytailed 60s ghostwriter of westerns who just happens to be a favorite author of a Bush-like president. When a presidential adviser sees the legacy tanking, he gets the idea to have the prez be the first ever to write a novel while in office. Our hero needs the money, and it zooms off from there. A little Tom Sharpe, some Swift, and shades of Barbara Garson's MacBird! The author reports that he also thinks that this may be “the only American novel that in the spirit of Mel Gibson contains a few paragraphs in Aramaic.”
Laura Thompson’s new website is now up at http://www.loralia.com/
Ethel Miller’s website has been updated: See http://web.mac.com/etheleemiller .
Humor columnist Sharon O’Donnell in HOUSE OF TESTOSTERONE chronicles her adventures raising three sons and reigning in her über-male, forgetful husband, Kevin. She shares her stories of welcoming her third son into the world, resisting the gravitational pull of the “guy zone,” and running a household immersed in a world of sports, bathroom humor, and laundry. More details at http://www.momsofboys.org/ .
READINGS AND EVENTS
BELLEVUE LITERARY REVIEW is sponsoring a Poetry & Prose Reading Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 5:00 PM with Maud Casey, Jessica Greenbaum, Leslie Jamison, and Elaine Sexton ad the Bellevue Hospital Rotunda 462 First Avenue at 28th St. NYC. For information, write to info@BLReview.org .
ONLINE
A new GINOSKO is up at http://www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/.
The April issue of WORD RIOT is up at http://www.wordriot.org with prose by Thomas Boulan, Mary Bowers, Jean-Gérald Charbonneau, Jon Chopan, Gabe Durham, Brian Foley, James Francis, Jack Harris, Melissa Ruby and James Terry and poetry by R. A. Allen, Joe Balaz, Jak Cardini, Richard Donnelly, Scott Drinkall, Kenneth Gurney, Lara Konesky, Janice Krasselt Tatter, Chris Major and Kirk Pinho
EPIPHANY has an upcoming Summer/Fall 2008 issue coming soon. SUBSCRIBE NOW at epiphanyzine.
WORKSHOPS
Meredith Sue Willis’s one day “Jump-Start Your Novel” workshop at NYU will take place June 7, 2008. See NYU’s SCPS Writing Classes .
ABOUT AMAZON.COM
I’ve been reporting for some time in this spot that Ingrid Hughes writes:Ingrid Hughes writes: “My union newspaper says, ‘Forget Amazon.com, which has engaged in union busting on two continents. Try Powell's Books (http://www.powells.com)- the largest unionized bookstore in America....An alternative way to reach their site is from http://www.powellsunion.com; prices are the same but 10% of your purchase will go directly to the [Powell’s bookstore] union's benefit fund.’” For the complete discussion, see the comments of Jonathan Greene and others in Issues #98 and #97 .
Now Amazon is causing a new stink in the publishing world! They are demanding that certain publishing options be replaced by their exclusive Print on Demand Company Book Surge. Take a look here to read more: writers weekly
WHERE TO FIND BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS NEWSLETTER
If a book discussed in this newsletter has no source mentioned, don’t forget your public library and your local independent bookstore. To buy books online, I often go first to Bookfinder or Alibris. A lot of people I know prefer to use the unionized bricks-and-mortar bookstore Powells that also sells online at http://powellsbooks.com. Good sources for used and out-of-print books are Advanced Book Exchange at http://www.abebooks.com and All Book Stores at http://www.allbookstores.com/ . Both Bookfinder and All Book Stores both have a special feature that tells you the book price WITH shipping and handling, so you can compare what you’re really going to have to pay.
RESPONSES TO THIS NEWSLETTER
Please send responses and suggestions directly to Meredith Sue Willis at MeredithSueWillis@gmail.com. Unless you instruct otherwise, your responses may be edited for length and published in this newsletter.
BOOKS FOR READERS is a free, independent newsletter written and produced by Meredith
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BACK ISSUES:
#108 The Animal Within; The Ground Under My Feet; King of Swords
#107 The Absentee; Gorky Park; Little Scarlet; Howl; Health Proxy
#106 Castle Rackrent; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; More on Drown; Blindness & more
#105 Everything is Miscellaneous, The Untouchable, Kettle Bottom by Diane Gilliam Fisher
#104 Responses to Shelley on Junot Diaz and more; More best books of 2007
#103 Guest Editor: Shelley Ettinger and her best books of 2007
#102 Saramago's BLINDNESS; more on NEVER LET ME GO; George Lies on Joe Gatski
#101 My Brilliant Career, The Scarlet Letter, John Banville, Never Let Me Go
#100 The Poisonwood Bible, Pamela Erens, More Harry P.
#99 Jonathan Greene on Amazon.com; Molly Gilman on Dogs of Babel
#98 Guest editor Pat Arnow; more on the Amazon.com debate
#97 Using Thomas Hardy; Why I Write; more
#96 Lucy Calkins, issue fiction for young adults
#95 Collapse, Harry Potter, Steve Geng
#94 Alice Robinson-Gilman, Maynard on Momaday
#93 Kristin Lavransdatter, House Made of Dawn, Leaving Atlanta
#92 Death of Ivan Ilych; Memoirs
#91 Richard Powers discussion
#90 William Zinsser, Memoir, Shakespeare
#89 William Styron, Ellen Willis, Dune, Germinal, and much more
#88 Sandra Cisneros's Caramelo
#87 Wings of the Dove, Forever After (9/11 Teachers)
#86 Leora Skolkin-Smith, American Pastoral, and more
#85 Wobblies, Winterston, West Virginia Encyclopedia
#84 Karen Armstrong, Geraldine Brooks, Peter Taylor
#83 3-Cornered World, Da Vinci Code
#82 The Eustace Diamonds, Strapless, Empire Falls
#81 Philip Roth, Paola Corso
#80 Joanne Greenberg, Ed Davis, more Murdoch
#79 Adam Sexton, Iris Murdoch, Hemingway
#78 The Hills at Home; Tess of the D'Urbervilles; Jean Stafford
#77 On children's books--guest editor Carol Brodtrick
#76 Mary Lee Settle, Mary McCarthy
#75 The Makioka Sisters
#74 In Our Hearts We Were Giants
#73 Joyce Dyer
#72 Bill Robinson WWII story
#71 Eva Kollisch on G.W. Sebald
#70 On Reading
#69 Nella Larsen, Romola
#68 P.D. James
#67 The Medici
#66 Curious Incident,Temple Grandin
#65 Ingrid Hughes on Memoir
#64 Boyle, Worlds of Fiction
#63 The Namesame
#62 Honorary Consul; The Idiot
#61 Lauren's Line
#60 Prince of Providence
#59 The Mutual Friend, Red Water
#58 AkÉ, Season of Delight
#57 Screaming with Cannibals
#56 Benita Eisler's Byron
#55 Addie, Hottentot Venus, Ake
#54 Scott Oglesby, Jane Rule
#53 Nafisi,Chesnutt, LeGuin
#52 Keith Maillard, Lee Maynard
#51 Gregory Michie, Carter Seaton
#50 Atonement, Victoria Woodhull biography
#49 Caucasia
#48 Richard Price, Phillip Pullman
#47 Mid- East Islamic World Reader
#46 Invitation to a Beheading
#45 The Princess of Cleves
#44 Shelley Ettinger: A Few Not-so-Great Books
#43 Woolf, The Terrorist Next Door
#42 John Sanford
#41 Isabelle Allende
#40 Ed Myers on John Williams
#39 Faulkner
#38 Steven Bloom No New Jokes
#37 James Webb's Fields of Fire
#36 Middlemarch
#35 Conrad, Furbee, Silas House
#34 Emshwiller
#33 Pullman, Daughter of the Elm
#32 More Lesbian lit; Nostromo
#31 Lesbian fiction
#30 Carol Shields, Colson Whitehead
#29 More William Styron
#28 William Styron
#27 Daniel Gioseffi
#26 Phyllis Moore
#25 On Libraries....
#24 Tales of the City
#23 Nonfiction, poetry, and fiction
#22 More on Why This Newsletter
#21 Salinger, Sarah Waters, Next of Kin
#20 Jane Lazarre
#19 Artemisia Gentileschi
#18 Ozick, Coetzee, Joanna Torrey
#17 Arthur Kinoy
#16 Mrs. Gaskell and lots of other suggestions
#15 George Dennison, Pat Barker, George Eliot
#14 Small Presses
#13 Gap Creek, Crum
#12 Reading after 9-11
#11 Political Novels
#10 Summer Reading ideas
#9 Shelley Ettinger picks
#8 Harriette Arnow's Hunter's Horn
#7 About this newsletter
#6 Maria Edgeworth
#5 Tales of Good and Evil; Moon Tiger
#4 Homer Hickam and The Chosen
#3 J.T. LeRoy and Tale of Genji
#2 Chick Lit
#1 About this newsletter
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