December 13, 2007
People instead of their societies
Now reading Ambivalence by Jonathan Garfinkel, and delighting in people instead of just their societies. Which I think might just be the theme of the book, so that’s fortunate. This is the second-last book of my non-fiction commitment and it has been a good ride. Though probably in the future I won’t non-fic in such a binge. I miss the truth and certainty of fiction, and though I have learned very much, my own writing is starting to suffer from a paucity of inspiration. One needs both worlds, I think. But I resolved to read all these books for they were ones I’d been putting off and putting off, and I had to resolve that now was the time sometime. It’s been good for me I think, though now that the end is in sight, I am longing for a prize– a good novel. But there is still good reading to be had in the meantime. A book is a book is a book.
So true (and strange, when you think about it) that there is generally more truth in fiction than non-fiction. I too have read Ambivalence and think the concept of truth (and its slippery dependence on perspective) is another substantial theme of the work.
Greg
(proseparsed.com)
I think that Jonathan Garfinkel has transformed the “memoir” into something truly extraordinary. I hope that people notice.