<$BlogRSDUrl$> < ? chicago blogs # >

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

He Can Only Be Visceral!

Mark Monz' taste buds are laid low by his cold, but Monz does not quit! Monz fights on, ordering something quite tasteful (Gennessee Cafe for two Chicago dogs sans onions). He might not be able to taste them, but he can feel those peppers! And having no taste buds doesn't mean you have no taste. Check out Monz reaction to the New York Times survey of the high literati for the best fiction of the past 25 years. Confederacy of Dunces, multiple Phillip Roth? Yawn. DeLillo? Blech. Cormac McCarthy? "Makes me want to take a baseball bat and slam the faces of each person who voted for him until there's nothing left -- I'd be wittier and less violent if I wasn't sick, but I am sick so I can only be visceral" Even more Phillip Roth? "This is the most exasperating...WTF? Reveals everything wrong with literary criticism, the literati and writing, just towing the party line and p*****ng me off -- give me a break, "Claire Bloom didn't like me, wahhhhh!" John Updike's Rabbit novels? "Brilliant Genius! Kick Ass!"

And for the winner (Toni Morrisson's "Beloved?") "Showing why this is a trumped up CONtest. Yes, we're all losers!"

And what is Monz' pick for best of the quarter century? "Sweet William" by John Hawkes. Taste that!
Comments:
I would also nominate any books by Hanif Kureishi and Patrick McGrath. They both kick ass.  
Tom Wolfe?  
Post a Comment
2 comments

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?