Late July News

Well, folks. I had an extraordinary trip to Amsterdam, Venice, and a brief hello to Paris. Punctuated by a challenging return home that included, over 24 hours: airport miscommunication and abandonment, tax shenanigans, a ruined kitchen stove, an angry air conditioner, a dead shrub and a very dead, very large tree in the front yard, and a live frog in my bathroom at 4 AM. None of those issues compare, though, to the heartsick realization that my beloved protector, Robert the Cat, is not long for this world. He’s lost about half his body weight while I was gone. He’s not in pain, or at least the vet doesn’t think so. For the last few days, his appetite is back, but we are having to face that he’s shutting down. The guy is almost 20 years old and lived most of his life in the woods, so I’ve joked all along that I figured he assumed he was dead already, and that the last seven years of sleeping on my pillow and living on treats has been a kind of glorious cat afterlife. I have thanked him for selecting me and for looking out for me through some rough times. Now we’re just watching the birds out the window and sighing at each other. Yesterday he slid off the sofa and didn’t even bother to get up. I heard him from the next room, scooped him up and put him back. He didn’t seem to mind one way or the other. When he wanders off and I don’t see him for an hour, I go looking, thinking “this is it.” But then he’ll be standing there, all skinny and scruffy, looking a little confused but still hanging on.

I am finding some solace in work, and new chapters will be up soon on Substack for both novels in progress.

News about the upcoming Zoom class on James and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

The Percival Everett/Mark Twain class is on for three Wednesdays: August 27, September 3, and September 10th. These Zoom meetings will start at 8 pm and will last approximately an hour. There’s a $15 fee for all three class meetings. I made the mistake of reading reviews of James on Reddit and Good Reads; you know, sometimes I think people just desperately want to have something to say. And sometimes, what they’re really saying is this: I needed more context to understand what was going on here, and I missed some real enjoyment as a result. Now, people can like what they like, and that’s fine. But the taste of a book is not straightforward, like the taste of cilantro or rutabagas. You can respond to those experiences immediately, and your mind’s unlikely to change. And if you don’t like how something a food tastes, not eating it isn’t robbing you of any benefits. Your negative emotional response to a book, though, might stop you from experiencing something transformational. The best books do challenge us to think about our assumptions and priorities. For me, reading has always been a place of celebration, refuge, travel, reinvention, and wonder. That’s what I want to do with all of you in these classes. We’re going to talk about Twain, and we’re going to talk about Everett, and along the way we’ll talk about the differences in their historical and artistic contexts. We’ll talk about what we think both of them are trying to tell us. But mostly we will find our way to enjoy these books to their fullest potential. Rather than taking a poll of likes and dislikes, we will explore these works with the care they each deserve.

I’ve always liked the Pauline Kael model of review: what did this work mean to do, and in what ways did it succeed? That’s a key way this class will be different from a book club experience. It won’t be a traditional class—in fact, if you want to take this class to prepare for reading these books, that’s perfectly reasonable. You don’t have to read them ahead of time. No tests are involved. What will be involved: some related readings you might find interesting, like Ishmael Reed’s excellent essay “Mark Twain’s Hairball.” Also provided: guidance and shaping for discussions. Questions for everyone to answer and explore. Time for you to ask your own questions. We’ll have some optional writing exercises and maybe a game or two.

I’ve taught in an academic context for a long time. Now I’m here to show you that you can have an intellectual engagement with reading while you’re also experiencing joy and freedom as a reader. Let’s have some fun.

Send me a message to get on the email list. If you’re a paid Substack subscriber, you can join this class for free!

Also: everybody taking this class can help me decide which class to teach next.

Hang in there, everybody. Here’s a photo from my travels these last few weeks, from one of the three book museums in The Hague. Felt like I was in The Ninth Gate in this one. You know, I miss listening to old ladies commiserating with me in Dutch.