During a recent visit to the Jacket Copy (Los Angeles Times) blog, I learned that the good folks there are bringing us a new series called “Off the Shelf: Writers on Writing.” Every Friday, we can expect an essay of that sort. Contributors to date include Art Spiegelman, Taylor Antrim, Nahid Rachlin, and Tod Goldberg. By the time you read this (depending on your time zone), today’s essay may have already been posted. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
From the back cover of Gail Hareven’s new novel (translated from the Hebrew by Dalya Bilu), The Confessions of Noa Weber: “This award-winning novel of one woman’s quest to understand her obsessive love for a mysterious man is by turns funny, self-mocking, and brutally honest.”
Well, this reader couldn’t resist that description, especially when it was complemented by this enthusiastic NPR review and book excerpt (but shame, again, on NPR for not crediting the translator, to whom I also owe my first encounters with such excellent Israeli writers as Aharon Appelfeld and Orly Castel-Bloom). Bonus: I have a recurrent weakness for novels and stories about writers. Noa Weber, the eponymous protagonist, is a writer (and a successful one!).
It happens, as we all know, that book jacket descriptions don’t always deliver on their promises. This one does–sort of.
That is to say, the book is, indeed “by turns funny, self-mocking, and brutally honest.” But I can’t say I think that the first-person narrator–that self-same Noa Weber–is all that interested in understanding her obsessive love for the itinerant, Soviet-born Alek, the father of her child, a man for whom, despite a nominal marriage, Noa is, in truth, more of a mistress than a wife. Talking about it with the reader (note, not with a psychotherapist), yes. Understanding it, I’m not so convinced.
Because, despite the occasional (rhetorical) question, Noa seems remarkably self-aware. She seems to understand and accept the situation.
Further, as a writer, she knows what is an interesting story, and what is not:
For the record I’ll simply mention here that I was favored by the luck of the draw. I grew up well fed and protected, and that’s another reason why where and how I “came into the world” is not a matter of public interest. People who’ve survived a holocaust, who were born into a world that no longer exists, they can begin their biographies with “I was born,” my heroic father can begin his story with “I am born.” Not me. My early history is too boring, it fails to provide any explanation for what happened to me in later years, and I have never felt the urge to examine it or whine about it. Nor do I now.
In any case, it’s no great loss, and if the right to say “I was born” has to be paid for in dire catastrophes, stepfathers, orphanages, and picking pockets in the marketplace, I say , “No thanks,” and choose to enter this story at the age of seventeen, where the real me begins:
Me and my love for Alek–which against my better judgment I experience as transcendence.
In this case, I’m not sure the lack of an explicit, sustained quest for understanding (if I’m right) is such a flaw. The book works so very well without it.
Especially for this American reader, who considers herself woefully under-read in Israeli literature, who appreciated the book’s Israeli setting and context, who is grateful to be able to read the work of a writer who has won the prestigious Sapir Prize, and who, quite simply, looked forward to reading the next chapters for all the recent evenings the book has rested on her bedside table.
Further resources:
—Gail Hareven’s profile on the Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature Web site.
—An interview with Gail Hareven in The Forward.
—The Complete Review‘s review of The Confessions of Noa Weber. Much more articulate than anything I’ve attempted to write here. Really captures the book.
(cross-posted on My Machberet)
The hype’s been everywhere (or so it seems), but it was this Fiction Writers Review piece on Wells Tower’s new story collection that really motivated me to attend a reading featuring Tower the other evening. Great event. Now, I must get the book.
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Speaking of hype–I’m sure plenty of you followed last week’s big online story about another online story: Dan Baum’s Twitter-based revelations of his association with the New Yorker. Here’s something a bit different: an interview with Baum, courtesy of The Renegade Writer, focusing on “writing for the big names – and the future of journalism.”
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And on a sad, yet inspiring note: check out the online home of a spring term Pomona College course, English 166: David Foster Wallace. The site includes a blog maintained by the course participants, as well as a link to the wiki that has emerged from it. An amazing resource for anyone interested in Wallace and his work – and, I think, for teachers of literature and writing.
Hey, folks. This position was just posted on the CUNY job site yesterday (Hunter is a CUNY college), and I didn’t want to wait until next Monday’s roundup to share it.
The MFA Program in Creative Writing at Hunter College is looking for an Assistant to the Director.
Reporting to the Director of the Master’s Degree in Fine Arts in Creative Writing housed in the Department of English and working with the Chair of the English Department, the Assistant has overall administrative responsibility for all aspects of the Program.
The three primary responsibilities are: to coordinate the preparation and distribution of all information about the MFA program to students, to the wider population within the college, and to the general public; to manage the office and all liaison with the distinguished writers, speakers and faculty who are invited to participate in the program; and to coordinate the budget and fund-raising for the program. The Assistant will also coordinate and maintain program and event information on the MFA website ensuring that it is updated and the information is accurate and helpful. Prepares reports as necessary, other duties as assigned.
To read the full job posting, click here. And to learn more Hunter’s MFA program, visit the program’s site.
This message has been brought to you by your friendly blogmistress…who is also a CUNY employee.
Author Tayari Jones is about to embark on a month dedicated to her writing, and the post she added to her blog yesterday explaining her imminent departure (especially the part I’m quoting here) really resonated with me:
Why all the drama? Why not just set up a DIY writing clinic in my apartment. I do have a dedicated room just for writing. I’m getting away because I feel that I am been distracted from myself by my life. I have been way too busy being too many things to too many people and I have really gotten out of touch with my work. I know that this happens to everyone, but I feel particularly frustrated because I spend so much time telling other writers to put themselves first. But here I am, in the same trap as everyone else.
Tayari’s post really got me thinking. A month seems an impossible dream given my current circumstances, but something shorter should be feasible. I need it. I owe it to myself, for a lot of reasons, to work very hard on carving out some real, dedicated time for my writing.
Because I, too, have “been distracted from myself by my life…way too busy…have really gotten out of touch with my work.” And, I, too, feel that I spend a lot of time encouraging other writers (you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog if that weren’t the case). At some point, I need to encourage myself.
Not sure when, where, or how this gift of time to myself and my writing will happen. But it WILL happen.
And for that, I thank Tayari Jones. Have a wonderful, productive month, Tayari!