I'm in the throes of passion with Joan Didion here (my hardcover copy of
Slouching Towards Bethlehem finally arrived from Australia), and in my extended Didion fascination, I was just wondering if anyone had an opinion on John Gregory Dunne's writing.
Does anyone have any recommendation for his essays? What about the novels?
Finally, was anyone else creeped out by Michiko Kakutani's use of the phrase "the inside dope, the real skinny, the 411" at the end of her review of Regards? (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/24/books/24book.html)
― zan, Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:33 (nineteen years ago)
I've read The Studio, which is supposed to be great, but I found it a bit slight and dated. After reading the Sunday review though, I am thinking of tackling the collected essays.
― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)
I'm thinking that the collected essays might be the best bet too. I sure do know I'd like to get the inside dope on Dunne. Maybe I shall dial the 411 and say to them "what is up?"
― zan, Thursday, 2 March 2006 15:16 (nineteen years ago)
"While the reporter, who used to be a boy with a stammer, writes as an appraising outsider, he's also able to deliver — by virtue of his own immersion in the worlds of cops and athletes, politicians and showbiz movers and shakers — the inside dope, the real skinny, the 411."
Yeah. A bit much. If she insists on so much listing, it would be better constructed thus:
"While the reporter, who used to be a boy with a stammer, writes as an appraising outsider, by virtue of his own immersion in the worlds of cops and athletes, politicians and showbiz movers and shakers he's also able to deliver the inside dope, the real skinny, the 411."
Actually, that doesn't fix it either, because it doesn't make much sense. If he's immersed in copworld, etc, then he's not really writing as "an outsider" is he? He's an outsider yet he's an insider?
Horrific run-on sentences with lots of commas DO NOT equal incantatory prose. Try some em dashes. Try separate sentences. Try examining the contradictions and ask yourself are they true or are you just journalistically jerking off.
― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 2 March 2006 15:42 (nineteen years ago)
I just hated the terms she used. There must be a word for when someone uses lingo not suited to their perceived personality, therefore making the slang instantly obsolete by their use of it. Or when someone uses a turn of phrase that has just gone out of style, rendering the rest of the point moot.
Surely they have got a phrase for that in German. "Veraltenmachensprache" or something.
― zan, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:58 (nineteen years ago)
Dunne's essays are pretty good; the writing is tight and well-carpentered, slightly mannered here and there. I actually prefer them to Didion's; never could glom on to her chilly minimalism. Recommended: His memoir, "Harp."
― Scott Dickensheets, Saturday, 4 March 2006 00:53 (nineteen years ago)