Customer Reviews

Mortification: Writers' Stories of Their Public Shame

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an interesting and funny compendium of accounts by fiction and poetry writers who detail their humiliating experiences as authors. After reading the book one wonders at the lengths to which novelists or poets are willing to go to promote their books.

There seem to be two main events that cause the mortification of novelists and poets:

1. Book readings. The worst possible thing that can happen at a reading is that nobody shows up for the reading. Or is it? How about when you are told that your book stunk. Or there is another author reading with you, and afterwards his book signing line stretches off toward the horizon while in front of you there is nothing but silent open space from here to the Andromeda galaxy.

I learned a curious thing about poets. Many of those represented in this book seem to have a drinking problem. Many recount experiences where they mounted the podium in a very inebriated condition, and surprisingly their drunkenness often isn't the humiliating problem. That they are besotted with drink doesn't seem to bother them in the least.

2. Media Interviews. The author typically arises at an early hour and is whisked off to a radio station for a 6AM interview. The interviewer typically has never heard of the author or his book, and has no interest in either. Questions posed are about what the author thought of his mother, or are generally of the "what is your favorite color" type of solicitation.

Some of these confessions of mortification are hilarious. One writer was put up for the night by an elderly couple who owned two very large, very hyperactive Boxer dogs. They continually leapt on him and the other guests throughout the evening, their enthusiasm being so great that they frequently lost control of their bladders. They prowled about under the dining table for the entire meal, and you can guess what all they got into there.

What mystified me most was that some of the contributors to the book seemed to have misunderstood the assignment. Their responses, in my opinion, had nothing to do with humbling experiences resulting from their trade of writing. The final episode, for instance, recounts the writer's experience being caught in the bathroom indulging in a certain solitary pleasure. Hmmm. A couple of respondents seemed to feel that this was a splendid opportunity to write some experimental literature.

All in all a fun read if you are a book lover, and are curious about the lives of those who write them. I am acquainted with about half the authors (such as Margaret Atwood, Carl Hiaasen, William Trevor, Paul Muldoon, Charles Simic, Billy Collins, and Margaret Drabble). The rest were new to me, but no less enjoyable.

Just a couple clunkers in this fulfilling plane-ride read. Mostly Brit authors tout the other side of achieving (varying degrees of) literary fame. One of my favorites was the essay about the children's book writer, who'd read one book in her life.

Terrific gift for any writer, poet, publisher or editor (or wannabe) you know.

An enjoyable book to read one afternoon. Series of short experiences by a wide range of writers. The stories mix from the funny to the dull. However, the collection of writing styles is more interesting then some of the stories. The book provides a nice way to experience some authors and find some new favorites.

In a must-read compilation, Editor Robin Robertson has selected an impressive group of writers, sharing in a public dissemination of the humiliations that serve to remind us of our humanity, with or without the trappings of success. I could not put down this unique anthology. Story after story reveals the writers' foibles and missteps, usually tinged with humor rather than regret. A pithy addition to an already enjoyable read, each excerpt is prefaced by an apt quotation.

Since Margaret Atwood offers the first story, I began at the beginning. I found myself compulsively turning pages, stopping frequently to smile at the absurd image of a writer's state of mortification. Bernard Maclafferty's piece is so visually ripe that I can sympathize with his means of escape...the red wine offered by his host. On the other hand, demon rum is frequently the primary contributor to the unraveling of events, certainly setting the stage for complications.

The book reading/signing is a common venue for humiliation, where victims are subjected to an assortment of difficulties, from flawed PA systems to rude spectators to an audience in the single digits. Simon Armitage, with time to spare before catching his train home after one such disappointing evening, finds a copy of one of his earlier works in the trash, signed in his own handwriting, "To Mum and Dad."

Beneath it all, there is real experience, albeit "character building". This is the same blind courage that propels a novelist, poet or musician toward the creativity that encourages him to stand at the mercy of an audience of one or many. Who can deny the the need for applause a reading may occasion, even with the realization that Murphy's Law prevails? Luan Gaines/2004

"I'm not going to buy a book, but you looked so lonely there, I thought I'd come and talk to you."

Thus concludes writer John Banville's contribution to MORTIFCATION, in which he tells of a last-minute book signing engagement in Miami, during which he was approached by a potential customer, who is quoted above. This single incident perhaps best reflects the insecurities of the seventy writer-contributors to this volume, which is mostly about their humiliations suffered at various book signings, book fairs, and readings.

MORTIFICATION is essentially a collection of very personal very short stories. Like any anthology, it's difficult to generally rate because the individual chapters vary so widely in content, style, and appeal. Here, they range from 1 star to perhaps 4.5, with the majority at or above 3.

My least favorite came from John Burnside, who categorized mortification into Mild and Persistent forms, and a Virulent Strain. His definitions for the three were perhaps based on personal experience, but they didn't have that ring, so he may have missed the point of the book.

Personally, I most enjoyed those stories of humiliation submitted by David Harsent and Andrew Motion. The former, a poet, relates attending a bookshop reading with three other writers of the genre. Harsent attends so drunk that he falls asleep on stage, then loudly projectile vomits in the shop loo within the audience's hearing. Motion's gaffe occurred while a lecturer of English at the University of Hull. Andrew organizes a university poetry reading, and takes upon himself the task of picking up at the train station one of the invited writers, whom he hopes to recognize based solely on a photograph. In short, he picks up the wrong woman, who compounds the debacle by playing along with the error in order to get a free lunch.

Editor Robin Robertson saves for last the profound mortification - profound certainly on anyone's list - of Niall Griffiths, who relates waking up with a raging erection brought on by partaking too freely in powdered stimulants the night before. The humiliation lies not in the tumescent condition itself, but what happens when Griffiths relieves the situation to a woman's magazine article entitled "You Too Can Have A Bum Like Kylie's", complete with photos. The "Kylie" is presumably the gorgeous Australian actress/singer Kylie Minogue. In any case, Niall definitely states that he was scarred for life.

The lesson learned in MORTIFICATION is that writers have feelings like the rest of us mortals. Perhaps I should leave off writing book reviews for fear of offending vulnerable sensitivities. .......... Nah!

This is a fun book. It is full of stories from well-known and obscure writers about having their egos battered in sometimes hilarious ways. It is a good book for both writers and readers.

This book was hilarious, and, like other reviewers, I could not put it down. I especially enjoyed Chuck Pahalunuik's (sp?) tale of a post-Fight Club reading that went whacko in San Francisco. Enjoy!

As MORTIFICATION's introduction points out, there is something unique about the humiliation writers endure having to do with the odd intersection of "high mindedness and low income." And there is something uniquely fascinating about reading various tales of writers being laid low by misfortune herein.

The bite-sized chapters are varied in quality, but most go down easily and with a painful smile. I must say that I was surprised many of the more successful writers have the most disappointing efforts in this volume. Are they too successful to devote their full attention to a two-page reminiscence? Anyway, these offenders range from the so-so (Jonathan Lethem), to the tossed-off (Michael Ondaatje), to the downright crummy (Chuck Palahniuk).

But the book's few low points are redeemed by other writers (lots of poets and Scots) who detail their mortification with elan and humor. These include Jonathan Coe, Julian Barnes (I laughed out loud at both of theirs), and Rick Moody (at one of his readings, there was only one attendee who "hadn't expelled me from her uterus.") Other writers I wasn't familiar with who distinguished themselves were Elizabeth McCracken and Michael Holroyd. Great stuff.

this book also contains an essay by chuck palahniuk haven't read it yet, just thought you should know