This is very easy to read — like journalism, or what I like to call literary TMZ. Some of the details conflict with other (more detailed or up to dateThis is very easy to read — like journalism, or what I like to call literary TMZ. Some of the details conflict with other (more detailed or up to date) sources I’ve read — which might be inevitable, given the brevity of each piece. I’ve been wanting to find a book on relationships and scandals between writers for a long time, for the most part I enjoyed this book.
In 2019, it’s hard to imagine someone struggling to translate “Bakayaro!”:
which is difficult to translate, although it seems the closest equivalent would be “Go screw your own mother!” (Some people, however, say that it means nothing more than “dimwit”.)
I trust most internet-savvy Meme-Lords to know what “baka” is, and no, it has nothing to do with screwing your own mother. I understand this wasn’t a globalized meme back when this book was written, but it does make me wonder what else are creatively misrepresented for effects.
I would have rated this higher if it didn’t include running commentaries on his postcards (I adore this new cover image, BTW, I think it would make a great postcard... the funhouse distortion impression might hint at Marias’ method...)
Many writers incorporate photos into their books (Sebald, for example.) But the way Marias shows us the images, and then “creatively” pass judgments on the writers, their psychology, their character based on these images crossed the line of poetic license for me, it feels I’m reading a school boy’s creative writing exercises, the comments are sometimes amusing, often over-confident (to the point of sounding like phrenology), which further makes me question how much he over-interprets available artifacts. ...more
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