Chekhov’s Mistess

The 2004 Didn’t List

Okay, I admit that a list of things I didn’t do this year is a bit too infinite to fit into a few hundred words. But my intentions are good.

Best book I read that I didn’t write anything about despite meaning to for nearly half the year:

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“Antipodes” (Ignacio Padilla)

This is a collection of short stories translated from the Spanish by Mexican author Ignacio Padilla. But forget about where he comes from, these stories are Euro-centric rather than Latin and even though the subject is far away places, those places exist mostly in perception and time rather than terra firma, or put differently, they are more Borges than Theroux.

Indeed, besides the evocative title, it was the comparison to Borges that drew me to this collection. After reading it, I had intended to write a piece called “Ignacio Padilla, author of the Aleph.” That title stuck in my head for so long because a few of the stories could easily fit into the Borges opus. Most are crafty and memorable and although some try too hard, the overall collection resonated well with me because of its thematic arc that says something about the world we live in. For instance, one of my favorite stories in the collection begins rather dryly as a description of a rifle with only the slightest hint that there is more to it:

“For a start, the butt of the Hutchinson, almost always carved from Fijian red oak, weighs exactly 3 pounds, 25 ounces, and measures 15.4 inches from stock to firing pin. In fact, it might be slightly shorter, but that depends more on the atmospheric conditions of warfare, not on Hutchinson’s manufacturing practices.

This dry tone characterizes the entire story, but by the end we realize that we are being treated to an allegory of nuclear (ie. mutually destructive) warfare and we are nagged by the memory of the tale long after we put the book back on the shelf.

Best Book I didn’t read despite meaning to the entire year:

Ah, you say, how could you possibly say this is the best book you didn’t read this year because not only did you not read it, but you didn’t read so many others.

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”Getting Mother’s Body : A Novel“ (SUZAN-LORI PARKS)

True, I reply. I could have easily said something like ”Cloud Atlas“ that everyone raved about and seemed right up my line, but this first-novel by Suzan-Lori Parks is a bit more obscure, making my post all the more interesting (I hope) and I’m a big fan of Ms. Parks anyway. While this is her first novel, she has written several plays and those I have seen and loved, particularly Topdog/Underdog, for which she won a Pulitzer, about the latent love and hatred between two brothers named Lincoln and Booth. I’ve also have been amazed by her plays ”Fucking-A“ a retelling of the Scarlet Letter, and ”In the Blood.“ ”Getting Mother’s Body“ seems to show Faulkner’s influence on Ms. Parks who studied under James, ”Go Tell it on the Mountain“ Baldwin and won the MacArthur ”Genius“ award a few years ago. I think she is a genius and would venture that anything she writes will be emotionally dense, linguistically fascinating, and thought provoking.

The Worst Book I Didn’t Read Despite Being Excited About its Release:

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”Borges: A Life“ (Edwin Williamson)

I was really excited about the release of this book, but as I read review after review that portrayed it as Borges on the couch, I developed a real distaste for it and decided to remain satisfied with JLB’s writing instead of voyeuristically peeking into his private life. I wouldn’t normally make a decision solely based on reviews, but these all appeared to be consistent in terms of what the premise of the book was.

Best film I didn’t see at the theater but didn’t have to wait too long because of Netflix:

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”Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition)“ (Michel Gondry)

I love Charlie Kaufman’s topsy-turvey screenwriting style and every film of his has been a hit with me. I still fondly call ”Maxine“ from time to time, thinking about John Cusack trapped in the body of his wife and ex-lover’s daughter at the end of ”Being John Malkovich.“ That movie is hard to beat, but Eternal Sunshine is close, with its time-memory discombobulating concept wrapped in a love-story between two unlikely lovers, entwined with the bumbling goings-on of an oddly obscure memory erasing company named Lacuna.

Biggest news event I didn’t know anything about by the time it happened:

2004 National Book Award

Because of blogs I read far more about the daily machinations of the literary world than I would otherwise. I mostly enjoy it, but by the time the NBA was announced I had grown tired of hearing about it and now I couldn’t tell you who won.

Visitors to Chekhov’s Mistress who probably didn’t find what they were looking for based on these search terms:

mistress

mistress private lesson

mistress or domina interrogation

mistress japan girl-sex

my wife mistress

mistress september

fatties

you are nobody

The best literary journal that I didn’t know existed before this year:

That’s a real toss-up because I enjoyed the debut of Land-Grant College Review, Sentence, a journal of prose poetry and the on-line journal (which was only new to me), Small-Spiral Notebook.

It’s too difficult to choose just once, particularly since I went to the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses‘ lit-mag fair this year at the Housing Works Cafe, where I picked up a dozen or so (and there are so many more) journals for two bucks a piece.

Swink deserves a mention in this group as well, and its editor Leelila Strogov was also one of the most searched for terms of visitors to my site since I mentioned the journal here back in June.

All of these journals have presented to me worthy authors I’ve not heard of, inspiration by the selfless efforts of forever obscure editors publishing journals for the sake of the literature, and of course, short-bursts of entertainment whenever I picked them up.

Well, my word count is telling me to end it here, so if I have any more end-of-year didn’ts, I’ll share them sometime by, naturally, the end of the year.

Read widely, think well, and write often.

comments

That’s a good call on Antipodes. I hadn’t heard of it before this weekend, but I read about it in the SF Chronicle’s year-end notable books roundup and it sounded great.

Now with your rec behind it I’m even more interested in checking it out. May have to push it to the top of the line (after Gaddis, of course).

    – Scott (12/13  at  05:20 PM)

Scott, Antipodes is actually quite a short book and you could easily consume it in one sitting.

Bud

    – Bud Parr (12/14  at  09:58 AM)

Greetings!

I just discovered your site via Small Spiral Notebook’s referral stats. Many thanks for the kind words you have for the journal! I am really proud of the work we’ve been putting out (online & now print!) for the past few years.

Warmly, Felicia C. Sullivan, Editor

    – felicia (12/14  at  03:49 PM)

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About this Post

• Posted by: Bud Parr
• Date: December 10, 2004
• Filed Under:
  Wise Men Fish Here: Literature

• Comments:3
• Links to this Post: Technorati

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