Trying to think what distinguishes great writing from merely very competent and enjoyable writing. What has Cooper got or what does he do that makes him great where Self is only good? Well, I think that's been covered in the Cooper thread, actually. Anyway, I'll chip in another vote for Cooper, and also nominate ... wait, Acker's dead, so's Kosinski. The writer has to still be alive, is that right? I'm always trying to get people to read Lydia Davis.
Why she's not revered: I simply think she's not very well known. She's not got a load of books out, and is apparently deeply neurotic, a power-intellectual rather than an engaging audience-charmer: not exactly a publicist's wet dream. This may change, however, as her recent translation of Proust is making some waves.
Why she should be: Very much unlike the sappy, indulgent, not only masturbatory but tediously self-congratulatorily masturbatory Eggers school, Davis is cool, detached, sharp-eyed, methodical, precise. She observes the machinations between people and is content to limit herself to reporting them to the reader, who she is willing to credit with a little intelligence. It is refreshing to be allowed to draw your own conclusions, rather than having the writer's conclusions hammered into your face, like you care. Such restraint is a rare and precious thing. |
