[Vwoolf] NYT By the Book

Thu Oct 31 15:03:43 EDT 2019

Having gobbled back my first reaction, which is this man is an idiot—I think, in fact, in his defense, he is trying to be witty, amusing, erudite, and ironic (and all that)—I settled on “his tastes in literature are not mine.” I just happened to be looking at Mrs. Dalloway the other day, with all its heart twisting reminders of war trauma— everywhere, ubiquitous—and I decided this man simply didn’t “get” it. He says he loves books with voice and irony … well, to me that would be … hhmmm—Virginia Woolf…?  His not liking—and more to the point, not getting-- Anna Karenina is another clue to “his tastes re not mine."—Mary Gaitskill has an amazing essay on the two Annas in AK—but it’s a simplistic novel, let me stand corrected—and then, let me just say, the Alexandria Quartet would not be the *first* (or probably last) set of books that would pop to my mind as needing a sequel .. .

The chief irony, for me, is that he seems to be exactly like the men Woolf had to deal with. Plus ca change and all that. Not sorry I read this interview, but ….  \ I am not a Proust scholar, as this erudite man apparently is, but I read a well researched, gripping book called Proust’s Duchess a few years ago by Caroline Weber that deserves a plug. 

> On Oct 31, 2019, at 3:01 PM, Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
> 
> It's interesting that Aciman would invite three male writers to his dinner--Joyce, Gogol and John Leguizamo--and that the Times felt it necessary to title the entire interview "André Aciman Would Like to Demote Virginia Woolf From the Canon." 
> 
> Vara
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Vara Neverow
> Department of English
> Southern Connecticut State University
> New Haven, CT 06515
> 203-392-6717
> neverowv1 at southernct.edu <mailto:neverowv1 at southernct.edu>
> 
> From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Shannon, Drew [School of Arts & Humanities] via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2019 1:04 PM
> To: Christine Froula <cfroula at northwestern.edu>
> Cc: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] NYT By the Book
>  
> J <>  Agreed about how silly Alexander’s book is.  But I figured we shouldn’t blame the father for the sins of the son.  His own remarks on Woolf, however, are fair game!  As I said, very disappointing, since CALL ME BY YOUR NAME and ENIGMA VARIATIONS are gorgeous books, and I’m looking forward to digging into the sequel to the former, called FIND ME, which arrived on my doorstep yesterday. 
>  
> <image001.jpg>
> 
> Drew Shannon, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of English
> Department of Liberal Arts
> Historian / Bibliographer of the International Virginia Woolf Society 
> Mount St. Joseph University
> 5701 Delhi Road | Cincinnati, OH 45233-1672
> 513-244-4541 | Drew.Shannon at msj.edu <mailto:Drew.Shannon at msj.edu>
> "I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual." -- Virginia Woolf, Diary, 17 February 1922
> Please consider the environment before printing this email.
>  
>  
> From: Christine Froula [mailto:cfroula at northwestern.edu] 
> Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2019 1:00 PM
> To: Shannon, Drew [School of Arts & Humanities] <Drew.Shannon at msj.edu>
> Cc: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] NYT By the Book
>  
> Ah, Alexander v Andre--thank you, Drew--Christine
> On 10/31/2019 11:43 AM, Shannon, Drew [School of Arts & Humanities] wrote:
> Twitterature is by Andre Aciman’s son, not by Aciman himself. 
>  
> <image001.jpg>
> 
> Drew Shannon, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of English
> Department of Liberal Arts
> Historian / Bibliographer of the International Virginia Woolf Society 
> Mount St. Joseph University
> 5701 Delhi Road | Cincinnati, OH 45233-1672
> 513-244-4541 | Drew.Shannon at msj.edu <mailto:Drew.Shannon at msj.edu>
> "I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual." -- Virginia Woolf, Diary, 17 February 1922
> Please consider the environment before printing this email.
>  
>  
> From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+drew.shannon=msj.edu at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf-bounces+drew.shannon=msj.edu at lists.osu.edu>] On Behalf Of Christine Froula via Vwoolf
> Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2019 12:34 PM
> To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] NYT By the Book
>  
> I couldn't open the article, but from the headline I imagine him making some statement that roughly accords with his undergraduate (sophomoric?) production Twitterature, in which he and his co-author reduce great books, including Mrs Dalloway, to tweets. Not too sure about the depth and power of his literary skills. The NYT long ago ceased to care about all but contemporary literature.
> On 10/31/2019 11:22 AM, Shannon, Drew [School of Arts & Humanities] via Vwoolf wrote:
> How disappointing that Aciman would say such a thing, since he’s a really talented novelist and smart person.  I also heard him say disparaging things about Nabokov in his interview with Michael Silverblatt on Bookworm, though his slam of Nabokov doesn’t bother me quite as much as this one does…
>  
> <image001.jpg>
> 
> Drew Shannon, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of English
> Department of Liberal Arts
> Historian / Bibliographer of the International Virginia Woolf Society 
> Mount St. Joseph University
> 5701 Delhi Road | Cincinnati, OH 45233-1672
> 513-244-4541 | Drew.Shannon at msj.edu <mailto:Drew.Shannon at msj.edu>
> "I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual." -- Virginia Woolf, Diary, 17 February 1922
> Please consider the environment before printing this email.
>  
>  
> From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+drew.shannon=msj.edu at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf-bounces+drew.shannon=msj.edu at lists.osu.edu>] On Behalf Of Kristin Czarnecki via Vwoolf
> Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2019 12:14 PM
> To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> Subject: [Vwoolf] NYT By the Book
>  
> Ah, so much to say about this, including how certain media and literati still revel in taking pot-shots at Woolf. They could have put any snippet in the headline but of course chose this:
>  
> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/books/review/andre-aciman-by-the-book-interview.html <https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__www.nytimes.com_2019_10_31_books_review_andre-2Daciman-2Dby-2Dthe-2Dbook-2Dinterview.html%26d%3DDwMFAg%26c%3DyHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws%26r%3DB2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0%26m%3DLS6WVAwYxjRfhOH1Hp0KAym23A1-T_RV6EDNADzNcaw%26s%3Dgmm4INv0ap_vvrOeX8tQiCXowH4m1zHbthfnyT8mzNw%26e%3D&data=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7C961ec38f786943c6360508d75e2472c7%7C58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C637081382974825665&sdata=aA07cr0nhzRjQHe5hnjaFnLG38w2vSbNgYK1Iu9M6oM%3D&reserved=0>
>  
> Kristin Czarnecki
> President, International Virginia Woolf Society
> Professor of English
> Georgetown College
> 400 E. College St.
> Georgetown, KY 40324
>  
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> 
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