B108-DES63
Quality Of The Invisible
Copyright © by Dan Schneider, 8/1/03
Here’s 1 of
the few positive book reviews you’ll ever read from me- yet it’s a book that
celebrates the little noticed aspects of the book trade- things like marginalia,
epigraphs, prefaces, 1st lines, etc. It came out in 1999 under the
Picador imprint of Macmillan Books, & is called Invisible Forms, A Guide
To Literary Curiosities by Kevin Jackson & is 300+ pages of informative
& humorous writing.
I’ll give
a brief chronological fingering through the book, & then opine a bit. Each
chapter is a winner- discussing both the history of & the philosophical
underpinnings of the form it tackles- but some stand out especially. The chapter
on titles has a nice riff on what makes a title work. It goes on to inform us
that War And Peace was originally 1825, A Farewell To Arms
was (among others) Love Is Hunger, East Of Eden was The Salinas Valley,
Gone With The Wind was (among others) Pansy, & Paradise
Lost was Adam Unparadized. It also has a nice riff using Henry
James’ novel’s titles to show how fashion also affects titling. He also
debunks the idea that great titles fall from the heavens like manna. A point
worth probing would be how many writers spend so much effort on a title while
the book is really bad. The pseudonyms chapter lets us know Anthony Burgess’s
real name is John Wilson- his nom de plume is made of his 2 middle names, as
well as a host of other real names for famed authors. The heteronyms chapter is
all about the psychotic Fernando Pessoa. The marginalia section comes replete
with faux examples of that form. The blurb section lets us know that those
detestable acts of fellatio were once merely the authors’ own descriptions of
themselves. KJ’s editor apparently encouraged him to delete some of the blurbs
he’s culled to show as examples of how this form is so vile. A minor quibble
is that KJ does not delve into the modern version of that form- the literary
rimjobs that adorn many a backcover. The epigraphs section tackles Edgar Allan
Poe’s & T.S. Eliot’s obsession with the form. The 1st lines
chapter reveals KJ’s nomination for best ever- from an obscure 1940s novel
whose author he does not name: ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!, three shots to the groin
and I was off on the greatest adventure of my life.’, as well as 1 of the
briefest- ‘London.’ from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, as
well as the deliberately shocking- ‘It was the afternoon of my eighty-first
birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the
archbishop had come to see me.’ from Burgess’s Earthly Powers,
& a later chapter deals with Imaginary Books, Imaginary Authors- such as
hoaxer Kent Johnson’s Araki Yasusada
hoax, & the Ern Malley nonsense. He does leave out such forms as errata, neologisms, & metagraphs;
but- again- a quibble.
The magazine The
Independent said this of KJ’s book: ‘The first reaction of many
people in the literary world on first picking up Invisible Forms will be
a muffled curse. It's such a good, simple idea, carried out with such aplomb;
yet, nobody thought of it before. The bastard!’, & I agree. In this
review I’m tempted to go on & on about the many little nuggets that nettle
a curious mind- but fear that if I give 1 I’ll not stop at just 1. Instead-
let’s hit the review of the reviews:
‘Jackson is a
wonderfully clever and literate fellow, and it a pleasure to read his
digressions, observations, and explanations. One might not believe there would
be so much to say on these subjects, but there clearly is -- if anything, the
book left us thirsting for much more. Certainly recommended.’
-from www.complete-review.com
‘The book is
crammed with wonderful oddities and shrewd observations; but the larger point is
that there is no such thing as a neutral literary apparatus, invisibly
supporting the text. Every bit of a book has its own complicated meanings and
pleasures and, as Jackson repeatedly shows, in literature the scenery has a way
of coming to the centre of the stage.’
- Sean
French, The Independent
‘It is
appropriate that one of the book's own paratexts should supply the justest
measure of its performance. Invisible Forms is, as the jacket copy declares,
"the perfect companion for literature lovers everywhere".’
-Simon
Jarvis, Times Literary Supplement
Suffice to
say that this is a fine little book- & 1 of the few works that can be read
in multiple modes- as a reference book it is on target. Yet, it also reads well
as a humorous text, even if 1 is not familiar with the authors or the works
referenced within. Even more, it also serves well as a primer on the art to the
unnoticed little aspects of writing. I hope that 1 day KJ will return to the
book, greatly expand it, & give many more examples of these forms: how they
are used, who used them well, who did not, & how those choices impacted the
sundry works.
Also, a
more scholarly approach might be needed, above & beyond mere expansion.
While KJ’s little book is a light-hearted jaunt through the subject matter,
there really is alot to be gleaned from a more sober & detailed study of
these forms. The analyses of such might help to quantify just what it is that
makes some writers. & some works, more memorable than others. At least
it’s a place to start. & in doing so, KJ need not get so weighted down
with pretensions that he ends up another Isaac D’Israeli- whose rise &
fall he charts, due to his 19th Century Curiosities Of Literature,
a sort of precursor to KJ’s book- whose mania is recounted in the next
century’s take on such matters. All he need do is what he did- & do it
some more. I just realized- for the 1st time in my adult
recall I am actually advocating that a book be longer. Not bloated- just more of
the good stuff, lest his fine book itself become invisible on some used
bookstore’s shelves.
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