Christina Cascadilla

I read this book and understood about 3% of it. It seems like John Gardner took an idea that could have been a decent 2,000 word essay and dragged out the idea to a book-length manuscript. All he is really saying is that if you write a novel you should show some good examples of moral behavior for your reader to follow. And postmodern literature (which was very popular at the time he wrote this book) tends not give good moral examples as to how to live. So not only is it bad art, it really isn’t art at all. And then he trashes a bunch of his contemporaries. There you go. That’s the whole book right there. No need to read 150 pages of Gardner writing in a style that makes this book as boring as possible. The most annoying part of the book is that when Gardner uses examples of short stories, plays, and novels to make his point, he does his best to pick example of things you were sure not to have read. (Such as I’ve read about 40 Donald Barthelme short stories, and Gardner always picked one I hadn’t read to use as an example. It was like he didn’t want the reader familiar with his examples, otherwise you might find a flaw in his logic. So he picked each author’s most obscure work.). Read something else. That is my advice. I’ve already summed up the book for you.

On Moral Fiction

Heartburn

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus

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It seems as if writer Michael Chabon has decided to stray from what we typically see in a “Star Trek” series and model after the remake of “Battlestar Galactica,” making this show move as slowly as possible. This should be called “Star Trek Sitting Around Having Conversations.” The first three episodes of Season 1 could have been condensed into one episode. The production values are great, though. I’ve decided to listen to this show to help me fall asleep.

Star Trek: Picard

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The Lost City

3 likes

Don't Look Up

West Side Story

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In 1986 I sat at a table across from two men. One of them said, “Only really smart people like us can understand that ‘Heaven’s Gate’ is a truly fantastic movie.” The other agreed wholeheartedly. These two people were exactly what Holden Caulfield was talking about when he railed against phonies. I’m sure there is a good movie in there somewhere—perhaps if this was cut down to 90 minutes after a total script rewrite. I’m still trying to figure out what the Harvard graduation had to do with anything. Okay, we need to know they graduated from Harvard, but can that be done in 30 seconds? Why the speeches? Why the dancing? Same with the roller skating scene. And how do so many Harvard grads end up in Wyoming? In the same place in Wyoming. It’s a big state. (That kind of reminded me of “The Deer Hunter,” where all there guys from the same town are together again in Vietnam. It’s not going to happen. You’d be stationed all over the country.) “Heaven’s Gate” was just more scenery than plot.

Heaven's Gate

54 likes

The Dukes of Hazzard

1 like