Solitary Pleasures, by John Ostrander
Well, foo.I was working on this great C.O.M. (Cranky Old Man) rant for this week’s column about how technology was making us all more isolated. It was a nice rant, too – it started with the Luddite vision of how, in the old days, people sang together or told stories in order to entertain themselves. It was a group thing and it bound people together. The rant then traced how technology – movies to begin with – changed us from participants to observers and then radio changed it into small family sized units until it was replaced by TV. The rant went on – oh, how it went on – about how the dawning of iPods and cell phones and texting and the Internet was further fracturing us into isolated units and blah blah blah. Really, I was working up a nice head of steam.
Then I looked at what I was doing. At this. At words such as these on the screen or printed on a page. Usually written by one person and then read by one person. What we’re doing, right now, you and I. Reading, in general, is an isolated act, a solitary pleasure. It made mincemeat of my rant.
Are there caveats to the notion of reading as a solitary pleasure? Sure. When something is “read out loud,” it’s “read” by more than one. To me, however, “reading out loud” comes more under the heading of. The “readers” are not reading; they’re listening. I bet if you hooked up a CAT scan device, you would find different parts of the brain lit up. Why? Reading translate symbols into images; “reading out loud” translates sound. They’re related but they’re different activities.
Can a story or article be co-written? Sure. I’ve done that. My experience, however, is that sooner or later each writer works on his/her version of the work alone. I’ve done things in a group as it tries to reach consensus and I found it excruciating. Maybe you can do a mission statement or an ad slogan like that, but that’s not the type of writing I’m discussing.
Reading is a solitary pleasure and is as old as the novel itself. The medium by which we read – be it a printed page or one them new fancy electronic readers that Amazon and others have – is secondary in this consideration. I was solitary as a boy. That would surprise many I know today. My twin brother was the outgoing one. I, however, loved nothing so much as to curl up with a stack of books and become immersed in them.
Despite my initial thesis, this didn’t make me less sociable, I think. On having read a good book, my first inclination is to go out and tell others about it, to share it, and if I find others who have also read the book, I love to talk about it with them. I don’t know how many books I’ve lent out over the years, many often never returning. Unless it’s something rare, I really don’t mind. I’m considering the sort of “loan” where the reader doesn’t have to return the book but promise to pass it on to someone else, making them promise the same thing as well.
This impulse is why we recommend books to others, the way Denny O’Neil does in his column every week. Reading is a solitary pleasure but the enjoyment is infectious. For me, it’s not only fiction but biography, history, philosophy, theology or what have you. My bottom line criterion is the same – the writer has to know how to really write, to draw the reader in, to make us want to read the next word, the next sentence, the next paragraph, the next chapter. I believe that when I find that writer, I’ve found a kindred spirit – someone who also loves to read.
Who do you know that’s like that? Who have you read – old or new – that gives you that solitary pleasure? Why do they give you that pleasure? That’s this week’s comment section, my friends. High lit, low lit, comics, short stories, novels, poetry, histories, biographies – what have you read that gives you pleasure and why?
Your turn.
John Ostrander writes GrimJack: The Manx Cat, new installments of which appear every Tuesday here on ComicMix, and much of Munden’s Bar, new installments of which will reappear anon here on ComicMix. Both for free. His new Suicide Squadmini-series is out there from DC Comics, and his Star Wars: Legacy is out there from Dark Horse, both at finer comics shops across the galaxy.
What I've read that gives me pleasure was sort of the gist of my last two columns at ComicMix. :)The only real co-writing I've done was with the late Leah Adezio. Ari of Lemuria was mostly her baby but, when it came to actually writing it, it was a true collaboration. I didn't have a personal vision of how the story should come out, so it really became us telling it to each other.
Collaboration is like kids playing in a sandbox. And when it works it is like the BEST playtime ever. Ultimately you get to the point where someone has to sit down and WRITE and at that point it becomes one writer/one vision. And then maybe if the schedule allows time the other writer can play "editor" and give the MS a good look.I'm currently reading THE KING OF ELFLAND'S DAUGHTER by Lord Dunsany. I'm enjoying the quaint style of writing and the fresh, personal take on the fantasy. It is revealing to see how modern fantasy has gone through a kind of Marvel Comics precess of getting the "back story" consistent. When Dunsany was writing he had local lore to pull from but he was very good at just making it up on the fly. I also think it is charming how he manages to slide Elfland into natural places just a few fields away from "the fields we know". Makes the fantasy seem like it is just outside the house and tucked away in a corner of the yard. Actually this book reminds me of a Tad Williams book that I read about a year ago – WAR OF THE FLOWERS. I'm sure Tad was deliberately working from traditional source material to create his world of faeries. But he managed to gracefully turn it all sideways and make it cutting edge and modern at the same time. For my money it is a standout book by an author who usually does very well.And I selected the Dunsany book from my library as an antidote to the last book I read; JUDAS UNCHAINED which is the second half of a single story that started with PANDORA'S STAR written by Peter F. Hamilton. Hamilton writes the style of book that takes a grip and will not let go. His books are usually over a thousand pages long and I just zip through them. He writes current, up to date SCIENCE fiction that convincingly imagines a future world, universe etc. But he pulls it all off in the context of traditional pulp style invention and pacing. I started reading Hamilton's books with his Night’s Dawn Trilogy (the Reality Dysfunction, Neutronium Alchemist and the Naked God) – about 6000 pages of the very best Space Opera I have ever read. And I have read a LOT of Space Opera starting with Edmond Hamilton's works in the early pulps. And this upstart new Hamilton carries on a grand sense of wonder that would do Edmond proud.As an antidote to THE KING OF ELFLAND'S DAUGHTER I have my eye on a Hard Case Crime book or maybe a Shell Scott book by Richard Prather.
I think Hamilton too often ends up with a deus ex machina. In one set of books, literally.
I've also recently re-read THE KING OF ELFLAND'S DAUGHTER and enjoyed it a great deal this time around as well although the hunting of the unicorn bothered me more than it did the first time I read it. Still, a very good High Fantasy read. Thanks for reminding me of it!
I just finished CHEAP DIAMONDS by Norris Church Mailer, which was tons of fun. Being a tall, blonde super-model in New York in the 1970s is exactly like a fantasy novel to me.
I've always been a solitary person. This works out well now that I'm disabled and spend most of my time at home with the cats. The doctors don't consider all this "talking" online to be "social stimulation," but I think it is.I mostly read science fiction and am at this time rereading The End of the Game by Sherri Tepper. We read the first trilogy in this series (reread for me) in bookgroup and I'm rereading the two other trilogies. This is one of her early sets — not too much preaching.Some of my favorite books are the Barrayar series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Space opera mixed with several social environments.
We've lost the links again. Lois's page:http://www.dendarii.com/Her bibliography:http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Lois_McMaster…
If you can find it, having recently read/reread "King of Elfland's Daughter", you might want to listen to Johnson & Knight's pop/rock/blues version from the 70s, featuring Mary Hopkin as Lirazel, Alexis Korner as The Troll, and Christopher Lee as narrator/The King of ELfland.I think it's out of print, but i think i might know where someone could borrow a listening copy…