Books THE WALRUS: SEPT., 09.
How to Read a Masterpiece: Coming to terms with Marie-Claire Blais by Marianne Ackerman
“Let it wash over you,” the man says. “Like body surfing, let the waves take you. Don’t try to touch bottom, and you won’t hit the rocks.” A burly guy with a voice like timber, Nigel Spencer is sitting at my kitchen table, talking into my tape recorder, addressing my despair. Weeks into this article about one of Canada’s most celebrated writers, a woman whose name is spoken with reverence in literary circles, whose books inspire a steady flow of commentary, and I still can’t get past the first page of her latest novel. Is it possible Marie-Claire Blais could be — as great minds have proclaimed — a genius, and also be unreadable? Or is it me?
. . .
On Being Nigel by Linda Goin.
Posted: 4 April 11 by writingroughdrafts in UpdatesTags: 2011 April PAD Challenge, Africa, yawns
He had to ask “Wheredid the weekend go?”
Did the time travel to Africa,
where people treat wonder
as a separate emotion?
Or are those days in Kentucky?
Even with Sudoku and scotch,
he lies awake thinking
about the distance
between Africa, Montreal
and Kentucky, where
a woman offers her kidney.
he lies awake thinking
about the distance
between Africa, Montreal
and Kentucky, where
a woman offers her kidney.
“There’s always something,”
he thinks. “It’s like time-lapse
photography in 4-D,” or,
perhaps, like the time
Ozzie recycled her pets,
serving up fish head stew.
he thinks. “It’s like time-lapse
photography in 4-D,” or,
perhaps, like the time
Ozzie recycled her pets,
serving up fish head stew.
In Africa, Nigel’s friend
filmed a pair of lions
making love. When it was over,
the male yawned. “She looked
like she needed a cigarette.”
A lioness burning bright.
filmed a pair of lions
making love. When it was over,
the male yawned. “She looked
like she needed a cigarette.”
A lioness burning bright.
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