I have read very little of Vollman but understand that he contains multitudes...
quite a surprise to see my photo here, with my kitty Lilith! but "Blonde," though it appears maximalist is really much much truncated & selective; 1/1,000 th of a Vollman treatment of the same topic. thanks for this!---Joyce Carol Oates
Alternatively, Ms. Oates - Maybe it's the 1/1000th that makes this critic prefer Blonde. Let me think about that. There's a lot of wisdom there. Maybe what I aim to capture is the 1/1000th. Thank you.
What an AMAZING footnote!! It's @JoyceCarolOates!!
I think you are being quite too humble - What I mean to connect is the novelist's embodiment of REAL historical figures. Blonde brings to life all of Golden Age Hollywood. (My favourite appearance is Robert Mitchum, at a party quite early in the novel, delivering wisdom completely in keeping with his screen presence).
Here, and in Atlas, and in The Lucky Star, Vollman DOES multiply the lenses. That is no measure of intensity, however, spiritually, for me, as a reader, nonetheless. The Commonplace Book was designed for me to decide on my aesthetic and influences as a young fiction writer.
As much internet hype as I hear about Vollman's "stack" - I have never heard of such hype and wonder at your OWN stack. (Probably about as tall, am I right?).
You and your beloved Lilith make this post because you are the most prolific authors I know of. And because there is a canonization war, always. I am also an advocate of Mr. Rushie.
1/1000th of Mr. Vollman . . . Good Lord, Ms. Oates!! You must have had a dreadful morning!! Be "jubilant"!! ;)
Awesome review. It really does make me now want to start reading through his catalog. Curious how close Europe Central is to Gravity's Rainbow, as I've been trying to get to that level of experience as I've been going through Pynchon's other works (but none hit that threshold).
Fascinating article my friend—I have definitely spent time with books that challenged but did not delight me. Some are meant to do that for us, since not every story makes us want to curl up and disappear into them. Some need us to hold our noses to the fire instead!
Absolutely! Monuments to the form. I'm hoping to start a Finnegans Wake read this year. I've never tried seriously before, but I have listened to recitations of 20-minute readings . . . It's gorgeous to HEAR . . . but I know I'm retaining 1/1000th of it when I try and it's just fine. Proust is the same for me. I've been on Volume 3 of Search forever. That's the "least favoured" volume but I'm LIKING it!! It's the one where I said: "Okay, I can do this." BECAUSE it's the one where I started researching and journalling. I read it more as Proust intended it to be read, I think. So now I have to start all over again!
I’ve been reading Vollmann for years, and it’s definitely not a body of work that lends itself to ease of reading. It’s more of a total experience kind of thing, encountering subject matter that is nowhere near the common thread, part of the time trying to decipher why he made that certain choice in direction/phrase/whatever, and marveling how all of it could come out of one person. Sort of a Diet Coke vs. single malt idea. I can pound a can of Diet Coke and it does what I need it to do at the moment, say during a hot day. However, the single malt, while less easy, hits in such a different way.
Reminds me a bit of my relationship with Faulkner, as well. Definitely not a beach read, but trudging through all that language has its own reward. Is reading either of these guys necessarily “fun”? Not so much. Did you just experience something that few could pull off? Absolutely.
Thanks for the comment, Jason! Absolutely. It's a mixed review, but I do not mean to understate the achievement of Vollmann's or the effectiveness of the novel as an immersive experience. "Trying to decipher why he made that certain choice in direction/phrase/whatever, and marveling how all of it could come out of one person" is also fascinating with Vollman . . . it's a life's work. And people will spend their entire lives drawing these threads he'd laid out together. Most people have not heard of Vollmann. I think it's a fair introduction. My review of Atlas will be much more reverent. Incredible body of work, but that book in particular . . . It's stunning. (More episodic, granted, which may be why I find it more accessible/easier to cling onto).
Oh goodness. I conquered Moby-Dick in high school and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance took me seven years. When I was playing around on TikTok, I did one of those challenges about books I haven’t read and feel guilty about…everyone else was naming really pop stuff and I’m over here listing Proust—I keep trying every few years but just can’t get too far before my butterfly brain goes somewhere else. I’m very glad I found my people on a different platform…
Hmm. On Proust and the butterfly brain. Yes and no. Let me think on this. I used to feel the same way. (I used to roll my eyes at Proust. ("What? Fluffing pillows all day?") - Now I love Proust. It's as much a sacrifice as a triumph for him. Proust loses readers progressively the more he gives to his novel.
I have read very little of Vollman but understand that he contains multitudes...
quite a surprise to see my photo here, with my kitty Lilith! but "Blonde," though it appears maximalist is really much much truncated & selective; 1/1,000 th of a Vollman treatment of the same topic. thanks for this!---Joyce Carol Oates
Alternatively, Ms. Oates - Maybe it's the 1/1000th that makes this critic prefer Blonde. Let me think about that. There's a lot of wisdom there. Maybe what I aim to capture is the 1/1000th. Thank you.
What an AMAZING footnote!! It's @JoyceCarolOates!!
I think you are being quite too humble - What I mean to connect is the novelist's embodiment of REAL historical figures. Blonde brings to life all of Golden Age Hollywood. (My favourite appearance is Robert Mitchum, at a party quite early in the novel, delivering wisdom completely in keeping with his screen presence).
Here, and in Atlas, and in The Lucky Star, Vollman DOES multiply the lenses. That is no measure of intensity, however, spiritually, for me, as a reader, nonetheless. The Commonplace Book was designed for me to decide on my aesthetic and influences as a young fiction writer.
As much internet hype as I hear about Vollman's "stack" - I have never heard of such hype and wonder at your OWN stack. (Probably about as tall, am I right?).
You and your beloved Lilith make this post because you are the most prolific authors I know of. And because there is a canonization war, always. I am also an advocate of Mr. Rushie.
1/1000th of Mr. Vollman . . . Good Lord, Ms. Oates!! You must have had a dreadful morning!! Be "jubilant"!! ;)
Awesome review. It really does make me now want to start reading through his catalog. Curious how close Europe Central is to Gravity's Rainbow, as I've been trying to get to that level of experience as I've been going through Pynchon's other works (but none hit that threshold).
a longwinded Sebald
The case can certainly be made.
I'm a fan of Mr. Vollmann and was shocked to find out about 10 years ago that he was a recluse in my hometown of Sacramento.
Exactly. But is it the merit of the work or the big myth of the man?
Fascinating article my friend—I have definitely spent time with books that challenged but did not delight me. Some are meant to do that for us, since not every story makes us want to curl up and disappear into them. Some need us to hold our noses to the fire instead!
Absolutely! Monuments to the form. I'm hoping to start a Finnegans Wake read this year. I've never tried seriously before, but I have listened to recitations of 20-minute readings . . . It's gorgeous to HEAR . . . but I know I'm retaining 1/1000th of it when I try and it's just fine. Proust is the same for me. I've been on Volume 3 of Search forever. That's the "least favoured" volume but I'm LIKING it!! It's the one where I said: "Okay, I can do this." BECAUSE it's the one where I started researching and journalling. I read it more as Proust intended it to be read, I think. So now I have to start all over again!
I’ve been reading Vollmann for years, and it’s definitely not a body of work that lends itself to ease of reading. It’s more of a total experience kind of thing, encountering subject matter that is nowhere near the common thread, part of the time trying to decipher why he made that certain choice in direction/phrase/whatever, and marveling how all of it could come out of one person. Sort of a Diet Coke vs. single malt idea. I can pound a can of Diet Coke and it does what I need it to do at the moment, say during a hot day. However, the single malt, while less easy, hits in such a different way.
Reminds me a bit of my relationship with Faulkner, as well. Definitely not a beach read, but trudging through all that language has its own reward. Is reading either of these guys necessarily “fun”? Not so much. Did you just experience something that few could pull off? Absolutely.
Thanks for the comment, Jason! Absolutely. It's a mixed review, but I do not mean to understate the achievement of Vollmann's or the effectiveness of the novel as an immersive experience. "Trying to decipher why he made that certain choice in direction/phrase/whatever, and marveling how all of it could come out of one person" is also fascinating with Vollman . . . it's a life's work. And people will spend their entire lives drawing these threads he'd laid out together. Most people have not heard of Vollmann. I think it's a fair introduction. My review of Atlas will be much more reverent. Incredible body of work, but that book in particular . . . It's stunning. (More episodic, granted, which may be why I find it more accessible/easier to cling onto).
One of these times, I’ll get there. If nothing else, I’ll bring it to my writer’s residency in France…
Oh goodness. I conquered Moby-Dick in high school and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance took me seven years. When I was playing around on TikTok, I did one of those challenges about books I haven’t read and feel guilty about…everyone else was naming really pop stuff and I’m over here listing Proust—I keep trying every few years but just can’t get too far before my butterfly brain goes somewhere else. I’m very glad I found my people on a different platform…
Hmm. On Proust and the butterfly brain. Yes and no. Let me think on this. I used to feel the same way. (I used to roll my eyes at Proust. ("What? Fluffing pillows all day?") - Now I love Proust. It's as much a sacrifice as a triumph for him. Proust loses readers progressively the more he gives to his novel.