{"id":108,"date":"2008-06-30T12:02:30","date_gmt":"2008-06-30T19:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=108"},"modified":"2008-07-13T18:14:59","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T01:14:59","slug":"%e2%80%9cjust-only-problem-being-published-after-readers-their-complexity-good-see-even-though-they-come-to-but-how-publishing-before-publisher-convince-possible%e2%80%9d-or-you%e2%80%99ve-just-fin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=108","title":{"rendered":"\u201cJust-only problem, being-published after readers their complexity good see even-though-they-come-to, but how publishing before publisher convince possible?\u201d Or You\u2019ve just finished reading Your Name Here by Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0I don\u2019t really know where to begin. No, Your Name Here<\/em> isn\u2019t a book<\/a> to be categorized as BSRAYDEKWTDWT<\/a> \u2013 you start at the beginning and work your way to the end \u2013 but it is a book you don\u2019t know how to process. And even that\u2019s not quite right: it\u2019s entirely linear. There\u2019s a beginning a middle and an end (kind of). Rather, there are a few of each.<\/p>\n

That awkwardly unavoidable question<\/strong>
\nAnd so comes the rather inherent question any book is supposed to rely upon as a selling point: What is it about?<\/p>\n

The problem is I don\u2019t know where to start. Let\u2019s see, here we go: You (and a bunch of other \u201cYou\u2019s\u201d) are reading different books on an airplane [You \u2013 yes, you \u2013 brushed up on your Calvino, didn\u2019t you?]. One of these books is by that author Helen DeWitt, Your Name Here<\/em>. Another is Lotteryland<\/em> by one Rachel Zozanian. There\u2019s a hotshot film auteur on the plane. All of the books have Arabic characters (not people, but, like, you know \u2026 letters). Any sense of overarching narrative is then disrupted by a series of emails between Helen and Ilya or their respective counterparts: Rachel and Alyosha (or Alexander or Dmitri or Kaplan or etc).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m the first to say that this book isn\u2019t for everyone. I\u2019ve handed the first chapter (excerpted in N+1<\/a>) to a friend only to be told it\u2019s garbage. I\u2019ve tried (on countless occasions) to get Rhea to read The Last Samurai<\/a>. She got a third of the way through, which I consider a success. I kind of feel like Mike at the beginning of YNH<\/em> when he talks with his friend: \u201cNo, no, you have to read it, it\u2019s fucking great, there is<\/em> Greek and Japanese, but it\u2019s motivated<\/em>.\u201d Alas, I wonder how large the audience for a book I can\u2019t even describe will be.<\/p>\n

I learned quickly during my jaunt of freelancing not to describe a band by comparing it to other bands (\u201cDude, it sounds like the Strokes and Aphex Twin got in a fight in an 8-bit version of \u2018From the Aeroplane Over the Sea<\/em>,’ bro.\u201d). However, think Calvino meets Adaptation<\/em> meets 8 1\/2<\/em> meets Tristam Shandy<\/em> (starring Steve Coogan!) meets smut, meets TTYL<\/a> meets, well, Lotteryland<\/em> all integrated with a few hefty \u2018Hooked on Arabic\u201d lessons.<\/p>\n

I had a great time reading Your Name Here<\/em>. I\u2019d look up from the text every handful of pages thinking, \u201cGood god, Helen [Rachel, Ilya, the Body] is doing it! I can\u2019t believe she\u2019s pulling this off!\u201d I also continuously wondered if the book will actually be published as it is or in \u201ca more-or-less direct and therefore awkard translation\u201d from an email in the text: \u201cIn modern literature there are quite a number of famous books which are as difficult to understand as yours, the only problem is that although after publication readers come to appreciate the complexity of these works, before publication how can the publisher be convinced?\u201d In some ways, a book about an author looking to complete and publish a book fits rather nicely as a digital file for anyone to stumble across. At the same time, I want to root for Helen and for the book to make millions and get huge film advances and for her to publish the many other books she alludes to have already written. I am an insufferable and selfish brat and I want to be another second person narrator in another unfinished book by Helen and her Thompson-esque co-author.<\/p>\n

And yes, you can still get your copy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3>