The Paris Review

This anthology is the first selection of interviews from Paris Review. The quality varies, as does the focus of each interview. Some of them are very much “writers on writing” — the interview with venerable old E. M. Forster, for example, provides some interesting insights into structure and character development. An interview with Georges Simenon, who seems bent on demystifying the work of the writer in the best Trollope tradition, was an illuminating juxtaposition. The interview with Boris Pasternak, on the other hand, is more like a fan letter. I grew bored as well with Ginsberg’s logorrhea. I am open to the possibility of mystical experience, but the Blake experience Ginsberg loved to talk at length about (the account given here appears nearly word for word in at least two other portraits) sounds more to me like an episode of mental illness. I enjoyed most of the interviews, though, particular those with Pound, Eliot, and Frost. Each of the fifteen writers (unfortunately all male) has a persona on display. In that context, it seemed normal for Hemingway to play Hemingway. In fact, he didn’t even seem as much a poseur as did Faulkner (an interview I enjoyed nevertheless). Most writers refrained from passing judgment on contemporaries. All the more striking, then, how many mentioned Faulkner, and how widely divergent the opinions were. It’s been a long time since I read The Sound and the Fury and a couple of his stories. I’m going to have another go at him and make up my own mind.… (mais)

The Paris Review es hoy, tras más de medio siglo de historia, una revista legendaria por haber convertido las entrevistas a creadores del amplio ámbito de las letras—narradores, poetas, dramaturgos y guionistas de cine—en un notabilísimo género de indudable valor literario y humano. La presente selección, la más exhaustiva jamás publicada en nuestra lengua, reúne cien retratos literarios realizados a lo largo de sesenta años que abarcan la época dorada de la literatura universal del pasado siglo: Forster, Hemingway, Faulkner, Eliot, Pound, Auden, Lowell, Dinesen, Welty, Bishop, Pasternak, Frost, Céline, Simenon, Borges, Kerouac, Wilder, Carver, Cortázar, Kundera, Walcott, Yourcenar, Márquez, Murdoch, Atwood, Gordimer, DeLillo, Sontag, McEwan, Auster, Murakami, Rushdie, Eco o Marías, entre muchísimos otros. Además de un volumen inigualable de clases magistrales de literatura, el lector tiene en las manos lecciones de vida de los más grandes maestros de nuestro tiempo.… (mais)

This fourth volume in the series surprised me in a good way. While V. S. Naipul gabs the title for being the most arrogant and - in a bad way - preposterous, this is very much mitigated and made up for by people such as [a:Haruki Murakami|3354|Haruki Murakami|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1266423525p2/3354.jpg], [a:David Grossman|34031|David Grossman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1258357322p2/34031.jpg], [a:P. G. Wodehouse|4343879|P. G. Wodehouse|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], [a:Philip Roth|463|Philip Roth|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1266157273p2/463.jpg] and [a:E. B. White|3523560|E B White|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg].

Most of the authors came across as hard-working and continually writing and re-writing, talking of the shitty first draft. [a:Marilynne Robinson|7491|Marilynne Robinson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1256021025p2/7491.jpg] and Murakami don't seem to have this problem at all, instead writing as though the drafts were in their head. In Robinson's case, however, this might very well be because of her belief in god.

Murakami came across as gentle and flowing in his descriptions, while [a:Philip Roth|463|Philip Roth|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1266157273p2/463.jpg] brought aggressive earnest to the table. While [a:Maya Angelou|3503|Maya Angelou|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1282621669p2/3503.jpg] spoke of her childhood, muteness and the importance of having somebody to write for, Wodehouse was (at 91,5 years old at the time of his interview) happy-go-lucky and seemingly carefree, not worrying much.

Grossman's words on Kafka were insightful, and [a:John Ashbery|86801|John Ashbery|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1192549028p2/86801.jpg] was a real poet in real-time, as his interview, providing insight into his authorship as well on his former, drunken self, was really good.

[a:Orhan Pamuk|1728|Orhan Pamuk|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1260534069p2/1728.jpg] was interviewed well, and gave quite a few insights both into his novel and about his authorship as a Turk.

All in all, maybe the best volume in the series, spanning more half a decade in the making, containing both interviews with Americans and others, from the past to the present, with authors stylistic and those more stream-of-consciousness.

Brilliant way to end it (not entirely, I hope).… (mais)