The Elegant Variation

SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE

NOT THAT YOU NEEDED MORE REASONS TO AVOID THE LA TIMES ...

... but with the departures of Maria Russo, Scott Timberg and Veronique de Turenne, the Los Angeles Times accelerates (and just about completes) its slide into total irrelevance. 

SPICY OR MILD?

John Sutherland on The Enchantress of Florence: "If it doesn't win this year's Man Booker I'll curry my proof copy and eat it."

Seriously, though, it's hard to get excited about this shortlist, although we do like Barry.  Who knows?  The Irish have been on a roll of late.

COULD WE, PERHAPS, KEEP OUR RESPONSES TO OURSELVES?

Let us all share a collective tear for Martin Amis who, according to the Globe and Mail, is "feeling vulnerable" ...

Amis sighs, or least lets out an exasperated breath. He's had more public lashings than most critics have had free lunches, and you sense this latest won't finish him off. “Is the discourse so limited?” he asks. “Is there not room for this? I make no recommendations in this book, I propose no actions. This is just the novelist in the street having a response to an enormous development.”

JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM

Needless to say, we disagree with Marilyn Stasio's bewildering take on The Silver Swan (which we thought even better than the excellent Christine Falls).  What's most confusing to admitted non-genre types like ourselves (and what follows is not an invitation to unleash the usual flame barrage) is this assertion:

Black has given himself plot headaches by meddling with some techniques of the trade he mastered so brilliantly in “Christine Falls.” Departing from the convention of allowing the reader to follow the story from the detective’s perspective, Black runs Quirke’s private investigation on a parallel track with the victim’s own story, told in intimate flashbacks.

Saints preserve us, such esoteric, outré literary devices!  As Ms. Stasio reaches for the reassuring comfort of The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, we ponder her closing:

But the conventions of crime fiction provide structural security for any exploratory attack on the subject of evil (or sin, as Black’s characters are more apt to define it), and failing to take full advantage of that freedom is like traveling all the way to Ireland and neglecting to visit either a church or a pub.

Now, we know that the whole ongoing clash between the so-called literary and the so-called genre is a touchy subject, tedious to most (including ourselves) and made increasingly irrelevant by efforts of the likes of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem.  But it would seem to us that it's precisely this sort of slavish devotion to form that renders the form less interesting to those with more (yes) literary leanings.  Sure, we understand that there are rules, but we also understand that art routinely breaks rules in pursuit of greatness.  (Now, we're not even going to go near the whole "erotica" v. literary fiction thing, especially since Rupert Smith has it so, ahem ably in hand ... )

At any rate, we urge you to ignore Ms. Stasio's confining notions of what makes a good read and check out this wonderfully moody novel for yourself.

WHAT SHE SAID

Kakutani on The Second Plane: "The Second Plane” is such a weak, risible and often objectionable volume that the reader finishes it convinced that Mr. Amis should stick to writing fiction and literary criticism, as he’s thoroughly discredited himself with these essays as any sort of political or social commentator."

IT MUST HAVE BEEN "SATURDAY"

We just want to know which McEwan this UK Facebook "stalker" sent his ex ...

Mr Hurst, 33, also sent an Ian McEwan novel to Ms Sladden's workplace with a note saying: 'This is a beautiful book.'

She said: 'I felt very, very upset. I ­deserve to have a life and not to have it overshadowed by an ex-partner.'

SPITZER'S LUCKY HE WAS ALREADY HERE

Apparently, we're now blocking writers from entering the U.S. on the grounds of "moral turpitude." 

For eight hours, armed agents of the US Customs and Border Protection interrogated Horsley. A party was set to kick-off a week of television and radio appearances to promote the US launch of Horsley’s autobiography, Dandy in the Underworld.

MAUD NEWTON SITE HACKED

I was hoping to have better news to report, but Maud Newton's site has been hacked and vandalized.  I thought her service provider would be able to provide a full restore but, for the moment at least, things aren't looking very good.  Needless to say, even if Maud were not a close friend, I'd be speechless and livid at such senseless garbage.  However, in addition to our friendship, I consider her the very best of the book bloggers, and I know many of you share my feelings and hope to see her up and running again soon.

UPDATE: She's back online.

AMADO'S BRAZIL

The Times travel section this weekend included this fine essay on Jorge Amado's beloved Salvador de Bahia.

That kind of dichotomy was typical of Amado, who, especially in his early years, tended to see everything as pairs of opposites: good and evil, black and white, sacred and profane, rich and poor. He even managed to impose that Manichean vision on the geography of Salvador, scorning Rua Chile, then the main commercial street of the upper city, and its well-to-do clientele in favor of the lower city and the port, where sailors, longshoremen, beggars, prostitutes and grifters saturated him in “the greasy black mystery of the city of Salvador da Bahia.”

If you're unfamiliar with Amado, who gets lost in the shadows of Garcia Marquez, Fuentes, and Vargas Llosa, you can read more here.