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I've almost completely given up on fiction these days! but on the other hand, my fav. fiction authors were always the "non-fictionists'" exceptions.
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 24 March 2005 02:42 (nineteen years ago) link
Sterling, you sounded very sure of yourself. I always wondered what you meant, but was a little afraid to ask for fear of feeling inadequate if the explanation would assume a knowledge of European philosophy from Hegel on.
Maybe you were just high?
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 24 March 2005 02:52 (nineteen years ago) link
sterling, you should read The Neighbors Are Scaring My Wolf by Jack Douglas. Then move on to Shut Up And Eat Your Snowshoes by Jack Douglas. Then read some Peter De Vries. You will love De Vries! Then maybe a little S.J. Perelman to cleanse your palate. Then read Edward Dahlberg's two autobiographical books because no one else will and i have nobody to talk to about them. okay?
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 24 March 2005 02:57 (nineteen years ago) link
I love Shut Up And Eat Your Snowshoes. I read it first when I was, like, about 10, and the opening paragraph (involving, who is it, Racquel Welsh's nipples and the trauma they feel when separated by a push-up bra, something like that) was so far over my head that I knew I was in for a good ride. And I read it again a few years ago and was surprised that it still held up as a funny and sweet book.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 24 March 2005 03:19 (nineteen years ago) link
five years pass...
My girlfriend tends to prefer nonfiction. Lately she's been enjoying Jonathan Franzen's Freedom but also says she can't wait to get back to "learning something."
It seems like a lot of people who dislike fiction think it's a waste of time to read about a made-up world. But to me this suggests a weirdly puritanical attitude that reading should always be educational. Aren't the inherent pleasures of fiction -- a well-drawn character, an expertly constructed narrative, a beautifully crafted sentence -- sufficiently enriching? Or does the preferrer of nonfiction not even recognize them as pleasures?
I'll admit, though, that in some ways I identify with the PoNF. For one, I like my novels to have a bit of social realism or cultural commentary in them. And in addition to the pleasures outlined above, part of why I do read fiction -- which is almost always of the "literary" bent -- is to become conversant with certain cultural works. Which is probably more foolishly dutiful, in a sense, than reading merely to learn stuff about the world.
― Zsa Zsa Gay Bar (jaymc), Tuesday, 21 December 2010 15:47 (thirteen years ago) link