AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
So. As I am wont to do every few months, this evening I googled my favourite author, Helen DeWitt, to see if there was any more news of new essays or perchance (oh please) a novel.
I didn't expect anything, as I've been doing this for nearly four years, and the only two times anything of importance showed up, once it was an essay for the Yale Review of Books, and once it was news that she'd disappeared and was presumed suicidal and that she'd then been found in Niagara Falls.
Lo and behold, in the bowels of Google, well past the first page, I discover that she has a website as of sometime late last year!
Helen DeWitt's website doesn't have much of interest at first glance. Apparently she's currently situated in Berlin. I find a link in News to the 2005 Yale Review of Books with her Letter to the Undergraduate in it, and then (!) three short pieces that were written for the opening of an art show. These seem to be rather promising, and characteristic of DeWitt's style, although far more on the esoteric side compared to The Last Samurai. I consume them quickly and gleefully.
Finally, I see a link on the sidebar to something called "your name here". I click it, and what appears to be another short essay, this time anecdotal, pops up. I read through it slowly. About halfway through it mentions another one of DeWitt's many ideas for novels. I take note, but don't fill myself with hope, especially given how many uncompleted novels were started prior to The Last Samurai.
She mentions 100 pages written. Joy of joys! IS this truly possible? Is it really happening?
The last sentence of the essay declares that "YOUR NAME HERE should be finished soon."
I'm sorry for dedicating an entire post to a point by point description of me exploring a website, but seriously? This is huge. Momentous, even.
If you have yet to read The Last Samurai do so. You won't regret it. I myself am going to sit back and await more esoteric rambling, beautifully damaged characters and liquified brilliance from Ms. DeWitt.
I didn't expect anything, as I've been doing this for nearly four years, and the only two times anything of importance showed up, once it was an essay for the Yale Review of Books, and once it was news that she'd disappeared and was presumed suicidal and that she'd then been found in Niagara Falls.
Lo and behold, in the bowels of Google, well past the first page, I discover that she has a website as of sometime late last year!
Helen DeWitt's website doesn't have much of interest at first glance. Apparently she's currently situated in Berlin. I find a link in News to the 2005 Yale Review of Books with her Letter to the Undergraduate in it, and then (!) three short pieces that were written for the opening of an art show. These seem to be rather promising, and characteristic of DeWitt's style, although far more on the esoteric side compared to The Last Samurai. I consume them quickly and gleefully.
Finally, I see a link on the sidebar to something called "your name here". I click it, and what appears to be another short essay, this time anecdotal, pops up. I read through it slowly. About halfway through it mentions another one of DeWitt's many ideas for novels. I take note, but don't fill myself with hope, especially given how many uncompleted novels were started prior to The Last Samurai.
She mentions 100 pages written. Joy of joys! IS this truly possible? Is it really happening?
The last sentence of the essay declares that "YOUR NAME HERE should be finished soon."
I'm sorry for dedicating an entire post to a point by point description of me exploring a website, but seriously? This is huge. Momentous, even.
If you have yet to read The Last Samurai do so. You won't regret it. I myself am going to sit back and await more esoteric rambling, beautifully damaged characters and liquified brilliance from Ms. DeWitt.