Interviews with the Writer

July 2, 2007 11:56 AM

Writers on Writing: Interviews with Paul Bowles, David Markson, and Harry Mathews.
posted by mattbucher (11 comments total)

There is an interview with Harry Mathews in the current Paris reivew, but the whole thing is not online.
posted by mattbucher at 11:57 AM on July 2, 2007

thanks for the post
posted by matteo at 12:11 PM on July 2, 2007

Harry Mathews is a favorite of mine. I just finished My Life in CIA, which for some reason I took a while to get around to, and was astounded all over again. He's so funny and so serious all at the same time. Plus, that story if just fabulous.
posted by OmieWise at 12:49 PM on July 2, 2007

Thanks for this. I'm writing a book now. Here's my interview about the experience: "Writing is really, really hard."
posted by MarshallPoe at 1:11 PM on July 2, 2007

Interesting. I just finished Bowles' The Sheltering Sky, which I rather enjoyed. My major problem with Bowles is a case of unrealistic expectations - my first introduction to his work came from the album that he recorded with Bill Laswell, "Baptism of Solitude." The album features Bowles' reading short pieces and excerpts over Laswell's ambient soundscapes, and it's really, really incredible. The title track, in particular, hit me in a funny place. Nothing else he's written quite lives up, although it's still quite good.

In fact, if anyone can tell me what that piece ("Baptism of Solitude") is excerpted from, I'd be ecstatic.
posted by TheRoach at 2:28 PM on July 2, 2007

Or, I could have just done a google search first. Apparantly, it's from a collection of essays entitled "Their Heads are Green and Their Hands are Blue." That's going on my reading list.
posted by TheRoach at 2:33 PM on July 2, 2007

I'd recommend Bowles's story/novella "Here to Learn." Like Markson, he also has written some stories set in Mexico.

I liked this quote from the Markson interview (about Lowry):
"Markson: A great percentage of the people in the world haven't had this experience, but sometimes you read a book, and it's almost as if it's been written for you, or you're the only one who really understands it. The impulse—creatively, artistically, spiritually—was to say, "Be my daddy. Be my father."
posted by mattbucher at 2:50 PM on July 2, 2007

Also a big Mathews fan. My favorites are Life in CIA and Cigarettes. Thanks for the link.
posted by hopeless romantique at 3:00 PM on July 2, 2007

For fans of Matthews' The Conversions I highly recommend the Raymond Rousel works that inspired it: Locus Solus and Impressions of Africa.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 3:27 PM on July 2, 2007

Yes, Rousel is great. Mathews edited a journal briefly called Locus Solus.
posted by OmieWise at 7:55 PM on July 2, 2007

Also Matthews' Singular Pleasures is wonderful.
posted by inoculatedcities at 3:02 PM on July 3, 2007