Read, Listen, Watch
Staff Picks and Suggestions
The Next Generation
Like anybody who reads, I am concerned about the new generation of writers. By this I mean people my age, who are in college or have recently graduated and who plan on writing. My concerns are two-fold, but there is some hope. There is even some excitement.
To speculate about what the future crop of writers will look like, we can look to the current crop, the “post-post-modernists,” the “Gen-Xers.” These are people such as Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers, and Michael Chabon. I am acquainted with several of these writers only well enough to know that I dislike Michael Chabon’s writing, although I did like the film Wonder Boys, and have an on-the-fence liking of Dave Eggers, having laughed loudly at some clever things he has written while simultaneously hoping that I never meet him in person. The few short pieces I’ve read by Jonathan Lethem I thought were solid enough. But I can summarize them all as being part of the contemporary generation of literary writers that has no particular name. Just as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald were the writers of the “Lost Generation” and Norman Mailer and James Jones were post-WWII writers, the two Jonathans, Dave, and Michael are part of the…um…what do we call these days?
The most obvious bad news is that none of these writers—yes, I’m making an assumption about the ones I have not read—can lay a finger on Hemingway or Fitzgerald or Mailer or Jones. The quality of literature really has declined. Eggers is inclined to writing short, sharp sentences that he tries to pass off as their own paragraph. He layers irony upon irony, while being unable to write a heartfelt ironic story in the vein of Hemingway’s Indian Camp (for example). Chabon writes these whimsical, sentimental tales that sound long-winded and forced to me. And now two more writers of the same generation have come to mind: the late David Foster Wallace and the truly obnoxious Chuck Palahniuk. Chuck Palahniuk has written the same book more than a dozen times. By that I mean he rearranges the words in each sentence, turns the level of outrageousness up or down, slaps on a narrative tone (always first-person) and calls it a book. Foster Wallace appears to be the most popular of all these guys, especially after his death. I’ve never read him either. All I can say about him is the idea of writing a 2,000 page book which is called your masterpiece to me is always suspect.
My fear is that this nameless group of writers—the Gen-Xers, the post-post-modernists—will be the only writers influencing the Gen-Yers. It isn’t that I think they’re untalented (except for Palahniuk) or that they are egotistical enough to think they are a great generation of literary artists. But if it is primarily their voices and themes that carry over to the minds of my generation, then we have something to worry about. The writers of the Gen-X period tend towards genre-mash-ups and existentialist postures. They write about characters who are bored out of their minds if they aren’t whining. None of their books concern real experience. Their stories have more to do with an elite, ironic, information-age experience of reusing and discarding earlier stories and earlier writers. None of it feels real. But again, these writers are so hip, that “that’s the point.”
I believe that the literature of Generation Y may rise above the previous generation, though. We have lived through some profound cultural experiences that have shaped our youth: 9/11, environmental disasters, economic downturns. We are a generation that is so over-entitled, that there is no way we will be able to get what we want when we’re older. There is no way we will be as rich as previous generations. The writers of Generation X lived through the post-hippie era, the slow collapse of the Soviet Union and Reaganomics. They were also super-entitled, and got exactly what they wanted, and became prosperous. What do you get when you live through a fairy tale with a bow-tied ending? A bunch of artists resorting to irony, self-deprecation, and re-packaging.
So my simple hope is that my generation has experienced times uncertain enough, shaky enough, and almost apocalyptic enough, to churn out a few interesting stories. But I could be wrong. As it happens, the wave of writers from Generation Y has already started, because the older end of the generation is now in their early 30’s. I’ll be looking for signs of life out there.
In conclusion, check out the books of Generation X that we have in Snell Library, and see if they have some merits (or faults) I may have missed. I’d like to hear some examples of very recent, Generation Y writers we have in stock as well.
The most obvious bad news is that none of these writers—yes, I’m making an assumption about the ones I have not read—can lay a finger on Hemingway or Fitzgerald or Mailer or Jones. The quality of literature really has declined. Eggers is inclined to writing short, sharp sentences that he tries to pass off as their own paragraph. He layers irony upon irony, while being unable to write a heartfelt ironic story in the vein of Hemingway’s Indian Camp (for example). Chabon writes these whimsical, sentimental tales that sound long-winded and forced to me. And now two more writers of the same generation have come to mind: the late David Foster Wallace and the truly obnoxious Chuck Palahniuk. Chuck Palahniuk has written the same book more than a dozen times. By that I mean he rearranges the words in each sentence, turns the level of outrageousness up or down, slaps on a narrative tone (always first-person) and calls it a book. Foster Wallace appears to be the most popular of all these guys, especially after his death. I’ve never read him either. All I can say about him is the idea of writing a 2,000 page book which is called your masterpiece to me is always suspect.
My fear is that this nameless group of writers—the Gen-Xers, the post-post-modernists—will be the only writers influencing the Gen-Yers. It isn’t that I think they’re untalented (except for Palahniuk) or that they are egotistical enough to think they are a great generation of literary artists. But if it is primarily their voices and themes that carry over to the minds of my generation, then we have something to worry about. The writers of the Gen-X period tend towards genre-mash-ups and existentialist postures. They write about characters who are bored out of their minds if they aren’t whining. None of their books concern real experience. Their stories have more to do with an elite, ironic, information-age experience of reusing and discarding earlier stories and earlier writers. None of it feels real. But again, these writers are so hip, that “that’s the point.”
I believe that the literature of Generation Y may rise above the previous generation, though. We have lived through some profound cultural experiences that have shaped our youth: 9/11, environmental disasters, economic downturns. We are a generation that is so over-entitled, that there is no way we will be able to get what we want when we’re older. There is no way we will be as rich as previous generations. The writers of Generation X lived through the post-hippie era, the slow collapse of the Soviet Union and Reaganomics. They were also super-entitled, and got exactly what they wanted, and became prosperous. What do you get when you live through a fairy tale with a bow-tied ending? A bunch of artists resorting to irony, self-deprecation, and re-packaging.
So my simple hope is that my generation has experienced times uncertain enough, shaky enough, and almost apocalyptic enough, to churn out a few interesting stories. But I could be wrong. As it happens, the wave of writers from Generation Y has already started, because the older end of the generation is now in their early 30’s. I’ll be looking for signs of life out there.
In conclusion, check out the books of Generation X that we have in Snell Library, and see if they have some merits (or faults) I may have missed. I’d like to hear some examples of very recent, Generation Y writers we have in stock as well.
Angry, Distraught, Jobless
Here at Snell Library, we are all fortunate to have jobs. Actually, we’re fortunate that the library is growing rather than diminishing, and that we will even be hiring new people in the fall. The same can’t be said of other libraries or many businesses. This is because thousands of people are jobless and probably will continue to be jobless for some time to come. I am even ready to believe that we maybe we’re being lied to about unemployment levels in this country and that actual unemployment may be much closer to Great Depression levels. I have prepared myself for the fact that perhaps this will last another ten years or so; just like the Great Depression.
So, with apologies for doing a downer of a blog post, let me first of all say that I sincerely hope my outlook is a bit too extreme. I am simply preparing for the worst. I can also suggest one remedy for getting through a time of economic turmoil; reading about it. Watching it. Here are some books and movies we have that can help you make sense of these troubled times and provide some metaphysical sort of sympathy for those who have it worse off than us.
1. Hunger by Knut Hamsun, 1891
This book is a stream of consciousness tract written from the mind of an arrogant, lonely, starving writer who lives half the time on the street and half the time in a shoddy apartment that he is constantly behind on with his rent. Having read this book earlier this summer, I can attest that it is not an easy read, although it is only about 190 pages. When it was first published in Norway 120 years ago, it was considered a radical, experimental novel and rather explicit in its content. In any age, I think it can just be considered a classic novel of desperate unemployment.
2. The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner, 2006.
Everybody has probably heard of the Will Smith movie based on this book; or at least, based on the life of the same man. Chris Gardner is now a billionare Wall Street broker. Decades ago, he was a twenty-something black man with a young son, working in San Francisco, yet homeless due to truly unfortunate circumstances. He spent nearly a year in soup kitchens, shelters and hotels with his son, but never gave up. This is an inspiring story of unemployment, even if Gardner’s story itself is not the narrative of so many other working homeless people.
3. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, 2002.
I have not read this book, but what I do know that it is about the working class of the United States and how they have been tricked out of their optimism in the American Dream by low wages and cruel workplace treatment. Ehrenreich is an investigative reporter who went undercover for a year; finding work in menial jobs where she could get experience from the inside ,and compiled it all in to this book.
4. The Last Laugh directed by F.W Murnau. 1924.
Okay, I’ll be straight: this isn’t exactly the type of movie I’d recommend to just anybody. It is not , by today’s standard’s, “accessible.” It’s a silent film. It is in Black and White. It has the distinction of being a film without a single intertitle that pops up to explain any action. But being a fan of silent films, I have to put it here. And seeing as it is about a doorman who loses his job and is demoted to washroom attendant in a hotel, to his utter humiliation, I think it is an important enough film for recessionary blues. In fact, the film has a completely unexpected happy ending that director F.W Murnau apparently did not want to put in, but he was forced to by the studio. This film was made in Germany. Even they like happy endings sometimes.
5. Naked and other Screenplays by Mike Leigh, 1995.
I would just recommend the film Naked, a truly great, angry, distraught film. But we don’t have it on the shelves. So you can read the magnificent screenplay by English writer-director Mike Leigh if you please. Briefly, it is about a man, Johnny (played by David Thewlis in the film) who flees Manchester for London, where he reunites– for lack of a better word– with his estranged girlfriend, Liz and her troubled roommate, Sophie and proceeds to seduce Sophie while manipulating and abusing both women. Later, he proceeds to further manipulate everybody he comes across on the streets of London. Not a film for the family. But then, most of these titles aren’t.
1. Hunger by Knut Hamsun, 1891
This book is a stream of consciousness tract written from the mind of an arrogant, lonely, starving writer who lives half the time on the street and half the time in a shoddy apartment that he is constantly behind on with his rent. Having read this book earlier this summer, I can attest that it is not an easy read, although it is only about 190 pages. When it was first published in Norway 120 years ago, it was considered a radical, experimental novel and rather explicit in its content. In any age, I think it can just be considered a classic novel of desperate unemployment.
2. The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner, 2006.
Everybody has probably heard of the Will Smith movie based on this book; or at least, based on the life of the same man. Chris Gardner is now a billionare Wall Street broker. Decades ago, he was a twenty-something black man with a young son, working in San Francisco, yet homeless due to truly unfortunate circumstances. He spent nearly a year in soup kitchens, shelters and hotels with his son, but never gave up. This is an inspiring story of unemployment, even if Gardner’s story itself is not the narrative of so many other working homeless people.
3. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, 2002.
I have not read this book, but what I do know that it is about the working class of the United States and how they have been tricked out of their optimism in the American Dream by low wages and cruel workplace treatment. Ehrenreich is an investigative reporter who went undercover for a year; finding work in menial jobs where she could get experience from the inside ,and compiled it all in to this book.
4. The Last Laugh directed by F.W Murnau. 1924.
Okay, I’ll be straight: this isn’t exactly the type of movie I’d recommend to just anybody. It is not , by today’s standard’s, “accessible.” It’s a silent film. It is in Black and White. It has the distinction of being a film without a single intertitle that pops up to explain any action. But being a fan of silent films, I have to put it here. And seeing as it is about a doorman who loses his job and is demoted to washroom attendant in a hotel, to his utter humiliation, I think it is an important enough film for recessionary blues. In fact, the film has a completely unexpected happy ending that director F.W Murnau apparently did not want to put in, but he was forced to by the studio. This film was made in Germany. Even they like happy endings sometimes.
5. Naked and other Screenplays by Mike Leigh, 1995.
I would just recommend the film Naked, a truly great, angry, distraught film. But we don’t have it on the shelves. So you can read the magnificent screenplay by English writer-director Mike Leigh if you please. Briefly, it is about a man, Johnny (played by David Thewlis in the film) who flees Manchester for London, where he reunites– for lack of a better word– with his estranged girlfriend, Liz and her troubled roommate, Sophie and proceeds to seduce Sophie while manipulating and abusing both women. Later, he proceeds to further manipulate everybody he comes across on the streets of London. Not a film for the family. But then, most of these titles aren’t.Snell Classicism
Because I’ve had the tune of Ravel’s “Bolero” trapped in my head all day, and because my interest in classical music has been growing steadily over the past two or so years, with the past few months constituting an outburst, I think it’s high time for me to write about Snell Library’s relationship with classical music.
I blogged about our resource Naxos at the end of June; that online library is a classical music fan’s dream come true. But it is just one of the numerous classical music resources in the library, and I am including digital resources and hard-copy resources. What are they called in this case? That’s right. CDs. Except there’s more than just CDs.
Just as an example, let’s take one of the most famous composers of all time, Mozart. In our collections, we have books on Mozart, including Mozart on the Stage, by John A. Rice. This book is a standard historical study of Mozart and his compositions. We also have a book with the bizarre title, Mozart and the Whale: an Asperger’s Love Story, by Jerry and Mary Newport. This is a memoir of two people with Asperger’s syndrome who fell in love, seemingly not having much to do with Mozart at all. But it shows how embedded his name is in our consciousness that his music is now mentioned alongside developmental disorders (and I’ve heard his music is actually believed to improve cognitive functioning).
Moving beyond books, we have movies; In Search of Mozart is one of those documentaries with a rather cliched title that simply narrates the life of Mozart, through interviews with various important people. Another movie called Destination Mozart: A Night at the Opera with Peter Sellars is a documentary about American theater director Peter Sellars’ controversial staging of several Mozart operas. But if you don’t care for non-fiction, if you don’t care for facts, and if you just want to listen to the damn music, then there are the CDs. The alliteratively titled Mozart for Morning Meditation: a Serene Serenade for the Soul sounds like it could be kitschy, but what music written by Mozart could be anything other than highly catchy and polished-sounding? He was the Brian Wilson of classical music. (Or I suppose I should say, Brian Wilson was the Mozart of pop music.)
If you don’t want Mozart, then we have numerous other composers available: there is one CD by the Klinger Quartet in which they play music by Bach, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Schumann and Mozart, amongst others. We’ve got Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Vivaldi, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, plus more movies and books on classical music and musicians like Shine and Why Classical Music Still Matters by Lawrence Kramer.
Classical music does still matter. It set the template for (virtually) all western music that followed. And although ‘Classical’ is technically a term that only refers to one period of art history, it all seems classical, traditional, rule-abiding to us these days–but if you check out enough of these resources, you’ll realize it doesn’t always sound that way. Even Frank Zappa, when he played “Bolero” on guitar in concert, knew that classical music still did have verve and purpose. And “Bolero” is still stuck in my head.The stacks get painted green
A new influx of books on sustainability, climate change, and all things green have hit the Library Stacks in 2010. In following its commitment to sustainable development, Northeastern has been obtaining more relevant sources on the topic for its students. Some new titles that are available and have yet to even be checked out are…
A Global Green New Deal by Edward B. Barbier.
- This book focuses on the need for global shifts in policy that will be able to meet short-term and long-term sustainability needs without creating economic or environmental crises in the future.
- This book follows the same theme of cooperation on a larger scale to achieve environmental change. It focuses on the relationship of the economy and the environment, the government’s current role and ideal role, and how individuals, communities, and countries can work cooperatively to achieve goals with relative ease and low expenses.
- This book gives a theoretical, political, and practical perspective on the role of developmental cooperation needed between developed and developing countries. The focus on climate change and aid theory make us rethink the need to help developing countries as a step to achieving global environmental progress.