Wish I'd written it

[patrick_vecchio]

Here's Laura Jacobs in Vanity Fair, writing about the novelist Mary McCarthy's scandalous 1963 novel, The Group:

Setting aside the fact that McCarthy could be quite theatrical when reading her work before an audience, there is a distinctly narrated, documentary-voice-over quality to her fiction, as if her tales came straight from her head-eyes,

Comments

[penshark]

And I wish I'd written your last paragraph. Nicely put.

[patrick_vecchio]

Thanks, Carole. That piece was well written: It had to be, because I didn't know doink about McCarthy until I read it.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/07/vassar-sex-single-girl-ivy-league-mary-mccarthy

[nodressrehersal]

Wow - right between the eyes. Nice analogy, pjv. That's how I've always felt about Joyce Carole Oates' writing, and why I think I'm the only WNYer (she's from around here somewhere) who doesn't pretend to be smitten with her work. Blech.

[patrick_vecchio]

I can't remember if I read her and didn't like her, or haven't read her at all. I'm thinking the first choice is true; if so, I was less than whelmed.

[gregorypeccary]

I read "The Group" after having scene a snippet of the 1965 movie in which Candice Bergen made her first film appearance. The following year she was in "The Sand Pebbles" with Steve McQueen and, as a young man, I thought she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Not exactly the best reason to read the book, but that's nonetheless what had led me to what many term a "woman's book".

I don't remember anything about the book's plot other than it had a lot of sex in it, and that's all it needed to keep my attention. I do remember, however, that Ms. McCarthy's prose was well chosen and effortless. And, I do remember seeing her on the talk shows of the time -- Cavett, etc. -- as she was a drama critic and moved well through NY society where back stabbing is an art.

[patrick_vecchio]

To remember her prose as "well chosen and effortless" so many years later says a lot about your memory and even more about your writing. The greats make it look easy, but as Thomas Mann once said, "A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."

[vivitalia]

Ouch. I actually do like JCO, but not because she's from around these parts. That's a tale for a different day, but I don't know doink about McCarthy either. Inspired to check her out now, just to see if she deserved the jab.

[patrick_vecchio]

"Doink" is one of the best words in English.