DOCSLIB.ORG

The Holocaust in Jewish American Fiction Holokaust V Americké Židovské Literatuře

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Holocaust in Jewish American Fiction Holokaust V Americké Židovské Literatuře Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích Pedagogická fakulta Katedra anglistiky Diplomová práce The Holocaust in Jewish American Fiction Holokaust v americké židovské literatuře Vypracovala: Bc. Anna Senková Vedoucí práce: PhDr. Christopher Erwin Koy, M.A., Ph.D. České Budějovice 2018 Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že svoji diplomovou práci jsem vypracoval/a samostatně pouze s použitím pramenů a literatury uvedených v seznamu citované literatury. Prohlašuji, že v souladu s § 47b zákona č. 111/1998 Sb. v platném znění souhlasím se zveřejněním své bakalářské práce, a to v nezkrácené podobě elektronickou cestou ve veřejně přístupné části databáze STAG provozované Jihočeskou univerzitou v Českých Budějovicích na jejích internetových stránkách, a to se zachováním mého autorského práva k odevzdanému textu této kvalifikační práce. Souhlasím dále s tím, aby toutéž elektronickou cestou byly v souladu s uvedeným ustanovením zákona č. 111/1998 Sb. zveřejněny posudky školitele a oponentů práce i záznam o průběhu a výsledku obhajoby kvalifikační práce. Rovněž souhlasím s porovnáním textu mé kvalifikační práce s databází kvalifikačních prací Theses.cz provozovanou Národním registrem vysokoškolských kvalifikačních prací a systémem na odhalování plagiátů. V Českých Budějovicích dne …............. Anna Senková Acknowledgment I would like to thank the supervisor of this thesis, PhDr. Christopher Erwin Koy, M.A., Ph.D., for his immense patience, for his remarks and advice essential for this thesis. I would not be able to finish this work without the emotional support of my husband, who has my thanks as well. Abstract The aim of this thesis is to use the analysis of nine literary works to identify distinctive features of Holocaust fiction. The theoretical part of the thesis considers the various approaches of society towards the Holocaust, as well as the way Judaism perceives fiction, Holocaust fiction in particular. The analytical part operates with the individual stories of the following American authors: Rebecca Goldstein, Bernard Malamud, Gordon Lish, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Rebecca Makkai and Budd Schulberg. The analysis focuses on the position of the characters as well as the significant aspects of each story separately. The final part points out the differences and similarities, as well as the most prominent aspects of the Holocaust fiction. Anotace Cílem této diplomové práce je identifikovat charakteristické prvky literatury zabývající se Holokaustem. Teoretická část mapuje způsob, jakým společnost, a zvláště židovská společnost, chápe Holokaust. Zároveň řeší, jak se Judaismus dívá na fikci, zejména pak na fikci spojenou s Holokaustem. Druhá část se pak zabývá analýzou jednotlivých příběhů, osmi povídek a jednoho románu, od sedmi autorů, a to od Rebeccy Goldstein, Bernarda Malamuda, Gordona Lishe, Philipa Rotha, Cynthie Ozick, Rebeccy Makkai a Budda Schulberga. Příběhy jsou zkoumány odděleně, přičemž je hlavní důraz kladen na významné motivy vzhledem k Holokaustu a rozbor jednotlivých postav. Závěrečný oddíl poukazuje na společné prvky povídek, stejně jako na jejich rozdíly, a určuje nejvýraznější prvky literatury Holokaustu. Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................ 1 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 2 Holocaust and Trauma .................................................................................................. 2 Defining the Holocaust ................................................................................................... 2 “What's in a name?“ ...................................................................................................... 3 The Dehumanization and Trauma .................................................................................. 4 The Holocaust, Judaism and Fiction ............................................................................... 6 Judaism and Literature of Fiction ................................................................................... 6 Definition of Holocaust Literature .................................................................................. 7 Adequacy of the Literature of the Holocaust ................................................................. 8 2. Literary reflection of the Holocaust ......................................................................... 9 Rebecca Goldstein: “The Legacy of Raizel Kaidish: A Story” .......................................... 10 Rebecca Goldstein ........................................................................................................ 10 “The Legacy of Raizel Kaidish” - Summary ................................................................... 11 Characters .................................................................................................................... 11 Family Relations ........................................................................................................... 14 Humanity and Morals ................................................................................................... 15 Essential Truth .............................................................................................................. 16 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 17 Bernard Malamud: “The German Refugee” and “The Jewbird” .................................... 17 Bernard Malamud ........................................................................................................ 17 “The German Refugee” - Summary .............................................................................. 18 The Narrator and the Refugee ..................................................................................... 19 Language Destruction .................................................................................................. 21 Unending Heat ............................................................................................................. 22 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 23 “The Jewbird” - Summary ............................................................................................ 23 Characters .................................................................................................................... 24 The Crow ...................................................................................................................... 27 Jewish Self-Hatred .................................................................................................... 28 The Holocaust Parallel .............................................................................................. 30 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 30 Gordon Lish: “The Dog” .............................................................................................. 31 Gordon Lish .................................................................................................................. 31 “The Dog” – Summary .................................................................................................. 31 Characters .................................................................................................................... 32 Haunting Secrets .......................................................................................................... 34 Collective Responsibility............................................................................................... 34 Genocide in New York? ................................................................................................ 35 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 36 Philip Roth: “’I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting’; or, Looking at Kafka” and Operation Shylock ................................................................................................................ 37 Philip Roth .................................................................................................................... 37 “’I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting’; or, Looking at Kafka” – Summary ...... 37 Characters .................................................................................................................... 38 Back from the Dead ...................................................................................................... 40 Survivor’s Burden ......................................................................................................... 41 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 41 “Operation Shylock” - Summary .................................................................................. 42 Characters .................................................................................................................... 42 The Institutionalization of the Holocaust ..................................................................... 45 Live and Let Die ........................................................................................................ 46 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Il Miglior Fabbro?
    The Raymond Carver Review 1 Il Miglior Fabbro? On Gordon Lish’s Editing of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Enrico Monti, University of Bologna, Italy 1. Introduction In April 1981, when What We Talk About When We Talk About Love appeared, Raymond Carver was still little known to wider audiences and few could predict that he was soon to be acclaimed as the “American Chekhov” and the father of literary Minimalism. Yet, those seventeen short fragments managed to reinvigorate the realistic trend of the short-story with their spare and laconic portrait of small-town America: a portrait free of condescendence, irony, or denunciation, yet full of hopeless desolation. That collection’s pared-down narrative has come to represent for many readers Raymond Carver’s stylistic trademark, although it undeniably marks a “minimalistic” peak in his career, and a point of no return.1 It is precisely in relation to that minimalism that we shall reconsider the role played in the collection’s final output by Gordon Lish, Carver’s longtime editor and friend. To do so, we shall analyze the scope and the extent of Lish’s editorial work on the collection, as it is now visible in the archives of the Lilly Library at Indiana University.2 2. Lish and Carver A flamboyant fiction editor at Esquire (1969-76), McGraw-Hill (1976-1977) and Knopf (1977-1990) and a writer himself, Gordon Lish acquired a reputation in the 70s as a provocative, brilliant talent scout, “at the epicenter of American literary publishing” (Birkerts 252).
    [Show full text]
  • The Afterlife of Raymond Carver: Authenticity, Neoliberalism and Influence
    The Afterlife of Raymond Carver: Authenticity, Neoliberalism and Influence A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2017 Jonathan N P Pountney School of Arts, Languages and Cultures 2 Table of Contents Abstract 4 Declaration 5 Copyright Statement 6 Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 8 i. The Emergence of Neoliberalism 9 ii. Carver, Neoliberal Hegemony and Craftsmanship 13 iii. Theoretical Approaches to Carver’s Influence 25 iv. Gordon Lish and Tess Gallagher 31 Three Case Studies 36 i. The Transatlantic Political Convergence and Stuart Evers 36 ii. Diminished Class-Consciousness and Denis Johnson 43 iii. Transnational Adaptations and Ray Lawrence’s Jindabyne 47 iv. Raymond Carver’s Afterlife 49 Chapter One – ‘Carveresque Realism’: Raymond Carver and Jay McInerney 53 i. Early Years and Correspondence 53 ii. Vintage Contemporaries 1984 60 iii. Carver’s Realism, Minimalism and Literary Accuracy 68 iv. Carver and John Gardner 73 v. McInerney’s Early Fiction 79 vi. The Calloways: An Example of Carveresque Realism? 86 Chapter Two – ‘The Transpacific Partnership’: Raymond Carver and Haruki Murakami 101 i. Carver’s American Postwar Context 106 ii. Humiliation, Consumption and Idleness in Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? 108 iii. Murakami’s Japanese Postwar Context 115 iv. Humiliation, Consumption and Conformity in The Elephant Vanishes 120 v. Turning Points: The Impact of Life-Altering Events on Carver and Murakami 127 vi. Residual Spirituality in ‘All God’s Children Can Dance’ 135 vii. Residual Craft in ‘Kindling’ 138 3 viii. Epilogue: ‘The Projectile’ 142 Chapter Three – ‘Why Raymond Carver?’: The Equivocal Carver in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman 144 i.
    [Show full text]
  • City Lights Books Records, 1953-1970
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt5489q50w Online items available Finding Aid to City Lights Books Records, 1953-1970 Finding Aid written by Bancroft Library staff; revised by Tanya Hollis and Holly Fox. The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ © 2005 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid to City Lights Books BANC MSS 72/107 c 1 Records, 1953-1970 Finding Aid to City Lights Books Records, 1953-1970 Collection number: BANC MSS 72/107 c The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ Finding Aid Author(s): Finding Aid written by Bancroft Library staff; revised by Tanya Hollis and Holly Fox. Finding Aid Encoded By: GenX © 2014 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Collection Summary Collection Title: City Lights Books records Date (inclusive): 1953-1970 Collection Number: BANC MSS 72/107 c Creator: City Lights Books Extent: 15 boxes, 4 cartons, 1 oversize box, 1 portfolio, and 4 oversize folders(circa 13 linear feet)7 digital objects (9 images) Repository: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ Abstract: Consists of correspondence, editorial and administrative files. Correspondents include Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S.
    [Show full text]
  • Gordon Lish and His Influence Gordon Lish Is Perhaps Best Known As The
    Gordon Lish and his Influence Gordon Lish is perhaps best known as the authoritative, and thus controversial, editor of Raymond Carver, among numerous other authors. This characterization however, does a grave injustice to the scope of Lish’s influence. Indeed, I would argue that no man has had a greater influence on the today’s literary landscape. A prolific author in his own right, Lish also served as editor, publisher, and teacher to some of the most significant voices of the latter‐half of the 20th century, as well as those of the 21st . With Lish, American publishing saw an unprecedented (and since unduplicated) output of challenging art by a major corporation, the occurrence of which came as direct result of one man’s artistic vision. It is these books, which Lish published, wrote, or otherwise influenced, which are the subject of my collection. In 1977, Gordon Lish left his position as Senior Editor of Esquire Magazine and accepted a job of the same title at Alfred A. Knopf. He worked at Knopf for eighteen years until parting ways in 1995, having assembled what is arguably one of the greatest editorial runs in the history of publishing. During these eighteen years Lish published many of the most memorable voices in contemporary fiction, many of whom he published for the first time. Among the authors who Lish brought into publication are: Raymond Carver, Don Delillo, Amy Hempel, Barry Hannah, Cynthia Ozick, Joy Williams, and Umass’s own, Noy Holland. What is perhaps most notable about Lish’s time at Knopf however, is the level of freedom he was given in determining what Knopf would publish.
    [Show full text]
  • Ed 390 065 Author Title Institution Pub Date
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 390 065 CS 215 170 AUTHOR Mitchell, Roger, Ed.; Shermis, Michael, Ed. TITLE Creative Writing. INSTITUTION Indiana Univ., Bloomington. Office of Research. PUB DATE Jan 96 NOTE 30p. AVAILABLE FROMResearch & Creative Activity, Office of Research and the University Graduate School, Indiana University, Bryan Hall 104, Bloomington, IN 47405-1201 or via electronic mail: [email protected]. An online edition is on the World Wide Web: http://www.indiana.edu/Etilda] rugs/rca/toc.html. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Research & Creative Activity; v18 n3 Jan 1996 EDRS PRICE MFOI/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Authors; *Creative Writing; Higher Education; Intellectual Disciplines; Novels; Playwriting; *Poetry; Poets; *Scholarship; Writing Processes IDENTIFIERS *Indiana University ABSTRACT This theme issue features 11 articles on the research interests of Indiana University faculty whose work on various campuses continues to advance knowledge about creative writing. Articles in this issue are "Creative Writing and the Future" (Roger Mitchell) which outlines the historical beginnings of the intellectual disciplines of Literature and Creative Writing; "IU's Creative Writing Program: Past, Present, and Future" (Heather Shupp); "It's a Matter of Character" (Susan Moke) which discusses the work of award-winning author and Indiana University professor Frances Sherwood; "Close to the Center" (Nancy Cassell McEntire) which discusses the work of author Scott Russell Sanders; "A Postmodern Twist on Modernist Concerns" (Susan
    [Show full text]
  • 'Corresponding Territory' Space in The
    'Corresponding Territory' Space in the Poetry and Fiction of Raymond Carver Andrew Munzer Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of York English September 2013 1 Abstract This thesis advances the case for the presentation and uses of space and place in the fiction, poetry and essays of Raymond Carver. Revisiting the literary and cultural texts connecting with his work, an investigation of a range of works across his career suggests specific modes of writing that contributed to his distinctive and influential style. The structural elements of the short story tradition and cultural and social histories of architecture are considered together, to suggest ways in which Carver’s work speaks to both a domestic experience of space, and literary tradition before him. Visual charts are suggested in the analysis of a fictional mode that suppresses chronological linearity in favour of the multi-directional forms of lived space. In this investigation, new material from the publication of Carver’s unedited second collection, Beginners (2009) is introduced into the critical debate. In light of this, the stories more clearly demonstrate Carver’s actively collaborative mode, before and after that period. The thesis has particular focus on the explorations of self, space and form in Gordon Lish’s fiction and Tess Gallagher’s poetry: key intertexts for both the editing debate and Carver’s writing itself. This thesis also seeks to further the corrective rebalancing of critical attention towards Carver’s poetry, as part of his cohesive body of work. It also suggests the ways in which the poems particularly demonstrate modes that are active in all of Carver’s writing.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Nebraska at Omaha Mfa in Writing Program Faculty
    UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT OMAHA MFA IN WRITING PROGRAM FACULTY Faculty Mentors Many of our Faculty Mentors publish and teach in multiple genres, including Adult and Young Adult Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, and Playwriting. Our mentors are chosen not only on the basis of their literary and teaching accomplishments, but also because their approaches to teaching and the craft of writing coincide with our emphasis on Mentorship. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT OMAHA MFA IN WRITING Faculty Mentors (Fiction/CNF) POPE BROCK received his BA in English from Harvard University and his MFA in Drama from New York University School of the Arts. He is author of the New York Times bestseller Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam (Crown), which appeared on New York Times critic Janet Maslin’s ten-best list for 2008. (More information, including audio clips of Brinkley’s 1930s radio talks and commercials for dangerous products, at: www.popebrock.com/page/Testimonials.aspx. Brock is also the author of Indiana Gothic (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese), the story of the murder of his great-grandfather in 1908. His profiles, investigations, travel writing, and humor have appeared in GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Talk, People and other publications, and he has been a regular contributor to the London Sunday Times Magazine. He has taught and lectured on creative writing at Bowdoin College, Randolph College, SUNY Oswego, University of South Dakota and elsewhere. He is currently working on a book about the future of the moon. Teaching Philosophy “Great nonfiction writers come in all styles and colors, but what unites them is relentless curiosity.
    [Show full text]
  • Interactions Between Linguistic and Visual Processes in Children and Adults
    Comprehending Texts and Pictures: Interactions Between Linguistic and Visual Processes in Children and Adults Jan Engelen Copyright © 2014 J.A.A. Engelen ISBN: 978-90-5335-888-7 Cover drawings by E.C. Eielts Cover design by J.A.A. Engelen Lay-out by J.A.A. Engelen Printed by Ridderprint B.V., Ridderkerk, the Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this dissertation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the prior permission of the author, or where appropriate, the publisher of the articles. Comprehending Texts and Pictures: Interactions between linguistic and visual processes in children and adults Het begrijpen van teksten en afbeeldingen: Interacties tussen talige en visuele processen in kinderen en volwassenen Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam op gezag van de rector magnificus Prof.dr. H.A.P. Pols en volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties. De openbare verdediging zal plaatsvinden op donderdag 11 september 2014 om 11.30 uur door Johannes Antonius Adrianus Engelen geboren te Terheijden Promotiecommissie Promotor: Prof.dr. R.A. Zwaan Overige leden: Prof.dr. J.P. Magliano Dr. K. Dijkstra Dr. D. Pecher Copromotoren: Dr. S. Bouwmeester Dr. A.B.H. de Bruin Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 7 Chapter 2 Perceptual Simulation in Developing Language 19 Comprehension Chapter 3 Eye Movements Reveal Differences in Children’s Referential 41 Processing during Narrative Comprehension Chapter 4 The Role of Grounded Event Representations in Discourse 71 Comprehension Chapter 5 Does Picture Orientation Constrain Spatial Situation M odels? 99 Chapter 6 Summary and G eneral discussion 12 1 References 13 3 Samenvatting 149 Curriculum Vitae 161 Dankwoord 16 3 Chapter 1 Introduction 7 Chapter 1 On Monday morning, the birthday boy was walking to school with another boy.
    [Show full text]
  • Norman Lock Novelist, Playwright, Short Fiction Writer, Poet Biographical Narrative
    Norman Lock Novelist, Playwright, Short Fiction Writer, Poet Biographical Narrative In this, my sixtieth year, I was voted one of the twenty top literary artists to watch by one hundred independent publishers, reviewers, bloggers, and agents – this list, in response to The New Yorker’s own, which covers commercial outlets exclusively. The year before, in 2009, I published my twelfth and thirteenth books: The King of Sweden (Ravenna Press) and Shadowplay (Ellipsis Press), both novels. I look back on a varied writing career that can be said to have begun at the University of Pennsylvania when Philip Roth invited me to attend his creative writing seminar on the strength of an early story. It was Mr. Roth, who saw to it that I was admitted to Syracuse University with a creative writing fellowship, discovering that I had not the means to attend graduate school otherwise. I was delighted six years later, in 1979, to receive the Aga Kahn Prize, given by The Paris Review – the inaugural award having been presented to Mr. Roth twenty years before by Ali Kahn in Paris. (Mine arrived by mail from George Plimpton in New York.) While at Syracuse, I studied with the novelist George Elliott and the poet Philip Booth. (While at Penn, I had also studied the composition of poetry with Daniel Hoffman.) The years following graduation from Syracuse, with a Master’s degree in English literature, until publishing in The Paris Review (an achievement I was not to repeat until 1998) saw a callow writer in search of a form and subject.
    [Show full text]
  • Television and the Decline of Fiction in Magazines
    Syracuse University SURFACE Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects Projects Spring 5-1-2009 From Page to Screen: Television and the Decline of Fiction in Magazines Mirel Ketchiff Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone Part of the Journalism Studies Commons, and the Other Communication Commons Recommended Citation Ketchiff, Mirel, "From Page to Screen: Television and the Decline of Fiction in Magazines" (2009). Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects. 486. https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/486 This Honors Capstone Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. From Page to Screen: Television and the Decline of Fiction in Magazines A Capstone Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University Mirel Ketchiff Candidate for B.S. Degree and Renée Crown University Honors May/2009 Honors Capstone Project in magazine journalism Capstone Project Advisor: __________________________ Professor William Glavin Honors Reader:__________________________________ Professor Harriet Brown Honors Director: __________________________________ Samuel Gorovitz Date: ___________________________________________ Abstract: My Capstone project explores how the rise of television contributed to the decline of fiction in magazines and the decline of general interest magazines in America. I argue that television appealed more to advertisers as a mass-market medium than general interest magazines. Magazines had to find a new way to appeal to advertisers, and they did so by becoming niche publications that could offer advertisers a specific type of audience, rather than just a huge amount of readers.
    [Show full text]
  • Cold War Playboys
    Cold War Playboys: Models of Masculinity in the Literature of Playboy by Taylor Joy Mitchell A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctoral of Philosophy Department of English College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Phillip Sipiora, Ph.D. Diane Price Herndl, Ph.D. Andrew Berish, Ph.D. David K. Johnson, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 31, 2011 Keywords: Masculinity Studies, Space, Jack Kerouac, Vladimir Nabokov, James Baldwin Copyright© 2011, Taylor Joy Mitchell DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my father, who reads the articles and loves me unconditionally. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge all who have made this scholarship possible. First and foremost, I must thank Dr. Phillip Sipiora whose trust in my abilities made this work a reality. Dr. Sipiora led me through this explorative process, all the while reminding me of stative verbs and deductive claims. Excited to take this project on when others might not be so keen to do so, Dr. Sipiora recounted his personal experiences working with Hugh Hefner and guided me through my dissertation chapter by chapter, sentence by sentence. I also want to thank my interdisciplinary committee for its leadership and invaluable suggestions. Humanities and American Studies professor, Dr. Andrew Berish made this dissertation a do-able project by suggesting that I scale down the scope of my original idea; Dr. Berish offered me the confidence to move forward using Playboy as my primary source. And from this project’s inception, Dr. Johnson has always asked me the tough and practical questions—those answers will shape my future research.
    [Show full text]
  • The Consecution of Gordon Lish: an Essay on Form and Influence — Jason Lucarelli » Numéro Cinq 5/26/14 6:35 PM
    The Consecution of Gordon Lish: An Essay on Form and Influence — Jason Lucarelli » Numéro Cinq 5/26/14 6:35 PM The Consecution of Gordon Lish: An Essay on Form and Influence — Jason Lucarelli Jason Lucarelli One gets tired of all the logrolling articles about Gordon Lish’s editorial dramatics and possibly malign influence on the likes of Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah or Amy Hempel. They are refulgent with schadenfreude and envy. He bought my novel The Life and Times of Captain N for Knopf on the strength of 50 pages and was decent and helpful to me. He would phone me, launching into monologues in that deep, stentorian http://numerocinqmagazine.com/2013/02/04/the-consecution-of-gordon-lish-an-essay-on-form-and-influence-jason-lucarelli/ Page 1 of 30 The Consecution of Gordon Lish: An Essay on Form and Influence — Jason Lucarelli » Numéro Cinq 5/26/14 6:35 PM voice. “Douglas, you have a contract with Knopf, the finest publisher in America, you have nothing to worry about. You are writing to God.” Something like that, meant, I am sure, to encourage me, although the effect was often rather more alarming. These phone calls were terse and epigrammatic (sometimes, though, he would talk about his wife dying or his troubles with his son) — and distracting. I ended up taking notes and putting some of what he said in the novel (the dwarf Witcacy occasionally speaks Lishian). I don’t say he was perfect; he had some very eccentric ways. But through the editorial process and an interview I did with him later, I realized he had a method, a theory behind what he was saying, that he was not anything like the middle of the road, tell-a- good-story, sentimental realists that are so commercially successful in America.
    [Show full text]