Strange to Meet You

Zzz.
Ahhh, rest days.

I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.

I believe in my own obsessions, in the beauty of the car crash, in the peace of the submerged forest, in the excitements of the deserted holiday beach, in the elegance of automobile graveyards, in the mystery of multi-storey car parks, in the poetry of abandoned hotels.

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I’ve wanted to read J.G. Ballard for quite some time and this book of short stories was my introduction to his written work. I should have consulted a Ballard enthusiast for a novel recommendation, because I must admit, I skimmed through the majority of this book. His early work is a little too science fiction for my reading tastes. Anthony Burgess’s (Clockwork Orange) introduction to the book explains that Ballard’s work takes a dramatic stylistic shift through the last few stories of the collection. In the late 1960’s, Ballard begins to explore his obsessions with the aesthetics of urban isolation, car crashes, sexuality and political assassination. I read some of Burgess’s recommendations from the early years and decided to move on to the last thirty or so pages which were written in the “Crash” period. I’ve read that section twice now which includes an excerpt from the book of “condensed novels” called The Atrocity Exhibition. I liked it so much that I’m heading to the book store to buy it this afternoon.

Update: I gave this book to my brother today because I thought he would appreciate it’s sci-fi-ness and he bought me The Atrocity Exhibition for my birthday (along with another wonderful book, which I will post about later on). All is great in Shannonland.

“The art of writing is very much broader than the art of writing itself, or of the writing technique. In fact, it would be helpful to a beginner who aspires to be a writer first to dispel in him any over-concern with the technique of writing, and tell him to stop trifling with such superficial matters and get down to the depths of his soul, to the end of developing a genuine literary personality as the foundation of all authorship. When the foundation is properly laid and a genuine literary personality is cultivated, style follows as a natural consequence and the little points of technique will take care of themselves.”

—An excerpt from “The Importance of Living.” by Lin Yutang

I picked up this book after reading an interview in The Paris Review that unveiled the literary hoax behind an author named Laura Albert and the persona known as JT LeRoy. I found this novel colourful and clever but it didn’t really dig under my skin like good books tend to do. Instead, I wanted to share the interview because the non-fiction side of this tale is miles more fascinating and strange than the book that made JT “famous”.

Being JT LeRoy:
A Q&A between The Paris Review and Laura Albert, the woman who was JT LeRoy.

You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.

— Saul Bellow