Victoria Nelson

This has to be my favorite book on writing and I’ve read it at least three times in as many years. Victoria Nelson lays out the anatomy of the blocked writer, inch by inch, the bare corpse split open on the table before us. The three overarching themes of the book are:

(1) the tension between authenticity and ambition

(2) the truly complex nature of the beast; there is not one block but many, their shapes varied and causes many

(3) a block is not a curse but a blessing, a message from the creative self, whence the writing comes

Personally I initially recognized myself on many pages, then on most pages, and eventually — with repeat re-readings — on every page. I identify with all of the types she identifies but with none fully. My guess is that many potential readers have a similarly complicated relationship with their work. A problem with the blank page then is more akin to a neurosurgeon trying to tease a delicate path between a mass of nerve fibers and less an Alexander slashing away brutishly at a Gordian knot. This message alone could save countless potential writers untold hours of therapy.

If you find yourself blocked, try this book. Then reread it. And maybe then reread it again. All will be revealed. The author has done something few ever achieve, creating a deeply understood, multilayered work that has the potential to actually help people.… (plus d'informations)

Oh, blessed puppets, receive My prayer, and teach Me to make Myself in thy image. -- Thomas Ligotti, "Mad Night of Atonement"

It feels wrong to me somehow that a book published in the year 2000 with the name "The Secret Life of Puppets" which deals with simulacra and demiurges, fantasy in European high art and American pulp fiction, and Bruno Schulz and H.P. Lovecraft doesn't once mention Ligotti, but perhaps it's just me.

Anyway, I found the book fascinating and thought-provoking, even though I found myself mostly skeptical of the author's conclusions. The argument here is that after the Enlightenment, Platonic thinking has been largely relegated to the background, a consequence of which is that Aristotelian, empirical philosophies have pretty much dominated ever since. However, Platonism and transcendental philosophies provide people with a sense of connection to the greater cosmos, which has been lost in our embrace of rational materialism. Platonic and neo-Platonic thought has found an outlet in culture, both high and low, and the recent conflation of neo-Platonism with technology (as exemplified in movies like "The Matrix") shows that we may be on the verge of a great return of Platonism or new religious reawakening.

As I said, it's an intriguing thesis, and I must admit I find myself mostly in agreement, at least with the way pop culture and art have adopted some of the roles/functions that used to be exclusive domains of religion. But I'm skeptical about the notion of the reawakening. The Matrix and its sequels have come and gone, and we've lost a large part of our obsession with virtual worlds. I'm almost tempted to bring out the old cliché of "9/11 changed everything," which like all clichés does have some element of truth. Anxiety and mystification of technology have been replaced by more conventional anxieties of violence by cultural outsiders. Of course, Nelson had no way of knowing that the western world would receive such a large shock, but at least for the moment the nature of cultural anxieties has shifted.

Another (lesser) criticism is the Lovecraft chapter, which I found interesting but pretty flawed. Nelson appears to be wanting to engage in a psychiatric reading of Lovecraft, which I could understand, but she relies too heavily on some broad generalizations. The impression I get is that Nelson is just trying to hard to find evidence of schizophrenia or syphilis trauma and is cherry-picking from Lovecraft's fiction to do so.

Those complaints aside, the book presents an intriguing look at philosophies of gnosticism and hermeticism, and their expression in popular culture and high art, as well as the way those have developed over the years. Nelson's approach has a certain playful eclecticism, which is fun to read even when it's not entirely convincing.… (plus d'informations)

For those of you absolutely tired of seeing all these reviews on procrastination and writer's block, REJOICE!! For this is the last book in my pile of research. And while you're rejoicing, if you're seeking to beat the snot out of whatever source it was that gave me this idea of talking about procrastination and writer's block for my teaching module, look no further, because this book was it.

Rather, not the WHOLE book, but an excerpted section entitled "The Master-Slave Relationship." At my January residency, I took an Advanced Reading Module, but instead of a book, the esteemed Mike Arnzen gave us a selection of essays to read on the writing life, and Nelson's essay hit home. The essay, particularly at that time, was such a perfect portrait of my writer's block that the author might as well have included my picture in the essay.

I wasn't the only one in the class who felt that way, of course, which speaks to the readability of Nelson's exposition. Nelson tackles the topic of writer's block with an objective eye and absolute frankness. Rather than speak in absolutes that can cast judgment on the writer, she examines each and every kind of situation that can spark writer's block and what a writer should or should not do about it. She's very focused on the individual, stressing that it's up to the individual writer to know themselves and make the decision that's best for them, based on listening to their intuition (rather than their ego). She also points out that with rare exception, the all-authority, must-do attitude in regards to the act of creative writing rarely produces good writing, and usually leads to MORE block.

It's really a good book, one I'm glad to have finished my research on. This is a title I think anyone with the desire to write should have in their collection, no matter if they're at the starting line, along the middle, or a consummate professional. This book is helpful without resorting to New Age-ism or sentimentality or psychological mush to explain the topic. Oh, Nelson uses metaphors and some psychological terminology, but after reading The Midnight Disease, this book is like a freaking beach read, which is really, really awesome.

The only BAD thing about this book is that it's no longer in print, which is a bloody shame. To get your hands on it, you're going to have to scour the used books venue. My favorite is abebooks.com (the link takes you to THIS specific book, because--you know--I'm persuasive like that).

My Rating

Must Have: Duh. This was, beyond a doubt, one of the most useful and interesting books out of my research, and if you're a writer, you need this in your library. Period.… (plus d'informations)