Meyer [Paperback]

Stephen Dixon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2007

The twenty-seventh book of fiction by one of America’s leading avant gardists, the award-winning Baltimore writer Stephen Dixon, sets up a situation that the protagonist, Meyer—a prolific fiction writer from Baltimore—finds preposterous: writer’s block.

In a story rife with Dixon’s trademark zest and style, Meyer proceeds to rifle through all the possible aspects of his life that could make for good fiction, and to try whatever it takes to get himself writing again. Sometimes, sex with his wife works, so he tries that, but without luck (even after several tries, just to be sure). He wonders if he should try sex with one of the neighbors. He wonders if he should try writing about his parents’ death…again. He wonders about concocting awful things to happen to himself and his family. He wonders about concocting wonderful things to happen to himself and his family. He tries sex with his wife again…

Is there nothing in Meyer’s life worth writing about?

It is, in short, Stephen Dixon at his best: stylish, funny, moving, and relentless as ever in his pursuit of the small, meaningful, and ultimately powerful revelations of everyday life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his 27th work of fiction, Guggenheim fellow, National Book Award finalist and Pushcart Prize–winner Dixon explores an affliction that neither he nor his protagonist would seem to know much about: writer's block. Meyer Ostrower is an aging, accomplished fiction writer living in Baltimore who one day finds himself at a loss for words. As he rummages through his past looking for material, the factual events of his existence morph into fiction. The novel is a set of themes and variations on major episodes of Meyer's life, many of them imagined: there is his death, his wife's death, his sister's death, his mother and father's deaths, all in various incarnations, side by side with childhood memories and sexual fantasies. He catalogues a lifetime of injuries (ranging from a stickball scar to a small white mark where his typewriter's line space lever went into his upper eyelid), worries in typical neurotic fashion about his arthritis and his heart, and reflects on the dwindling number of letters in his mailbox. Although writing about writer's block risks relying on a tired conceit, Dixon not only pulls it off, but puts together a series of quirky and powerful vignettes about aging. (Sept.)
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Review

“A hip Saul Bellow.”
—Publishers Weekly

“The American master of the long paragraph.”
—The New York Times

“There is no better chronicler of our antic and anxious age than Stephen Dixon, and if you can read Meyer without recognizing yourself in its pages, I want some of whatever it is that you’re smoking.”
—Daniel Handler(aka Lemony Snicket)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Melville House (September 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933633301
• ISBN-13: 978-1933633305
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Dixon is the author of twenty-seven works of fiction including, most recently, Phone Rings and Old Friends (both published by Melville House). His novels Interstate and Frog were both finalists for the National Book Award. Frog was also a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. His work has received the O. Henry Award, the Best American Short Stories award, the Pushcart Prize, The American Academy Institute of Arts and Letters Prize for Fiction, and he has been a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and readable., November 22, 2007

By 

J. LIN (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meyer (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book. It focuses on death, old people, and thinking about the past in concrete, direct, and very readable sentences. I liked this book maybe more than any other books by Stephen Dixon, though I have liked every book I've read by him. It was moving and I felt emotional after reading it, and while reading it. Also the least dramatic, unhollywoodish book I have read in a long time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You should get to know Meyer, October 30, 2007

By 

C. Christophe "gould" (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meyer (Paperback)

If you loved "Phone Rings", Mr Dixon's previous novel, you will not be disappointed by this one. Mr Dixon transforms what may sound like a dull premise (a writer's block) into an exciting novel thanks to great dialogs and lucid thoughts about love, death, the difficulty of aging... It's never boring nor self indulging. Forget Philip Roth, Stephen Dixon is the ONE ! ;-)