Comment

Use this page to engage in a dialogue regarding writing (fiction especially), publishing, reading . . . anything related, even vaguely, to the world of the book.

15 thoughts on “Comment”

  1. I enjoyed reading the book, particularly its ability to depict the cold in Russia, the mysterious auras of the characters, and the literary “grandness” of its story.

  3. Thanks very much, Pamm. A lot of people have commented on the cold in the novel. Ironically, the scene where Hektr is lost in the city at night and getting colder and colder, I was at a conference in Daytona Beach in mid june, and I recall sitting on the hotel patio writing that scene in sweltering heat and humidity — maybe the images came from some sort of wish fulfillment at the moment of writing. Thanks also for your support.

  4. Thanks for the comments and kind thoughts, Erin (although I’m not 100% certain what you mean by “editing is related to the world of the book”). I appreciate your interest in my books, and I’d be happy to field some questions. Take care.

  5. Hello Ted! I’m a student of Columbia College Chicago and we’re currently reaching out to people with the hopes of being able to ask a couple questions about the professional writing world. My teacher, Patricia McNair pointed me over to you and it’s impressive to see all you’ve done! If it is alright with you, would it be okay if I sent you some questions (no more than five) for you to answer? If so is there an email address or preferred platform that I can send them through? I look forward to hearing back from you!

  9. Hi Ted,
    Has Literary Trauma Theory ever be analyzed and applied to non-fiction texts and writings from people who experienced the trauma(s)? For example, in memoirs, letters/messages written from one person to another?

  10. Yes, Scotty. In fact, in my trauma-theory book references (briefly) nonfiction texts, like memoir, that exhibit characteristics of trauma texts. Thank you for your interest.

  11. Thank you for your reply Ted. I will check out your book. Do you have any other recommendations for resources?
    Do you know if anyone has codified language associated with identifying indicators of stress in texts?

  12. Dear Mr. Morrissey,

    I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know that I referenced your Danielson article in a Facebook post yesterday and the resulting responses were, well, what you might expect. They ranged from heads exploding to total support. The downside was that responding kept me awake until way past my bedtime.

    Thank you for your clarity and depth of reasoning.

    Best regards,

    Dr. Michael Cubbin

    School Goals Work Consulting

  13. “It is a manner—this virility of noun and verb—which is so originally and genuinely male, yet really so deeply human that until women can find an openly lustful, quick, impatient, feral hunger in themselves, they will never be liberated, and their writing, however elegant or well observed or composed of sexual bouts like a fight card, in pallid imitation of the master, will lack that blood congested genital drive which energizes every great style, whether it’s that of a baudy Elizabethan or a cooly decorous Augustan, of Jane Austen, Colette or Cardinal Newman.”

    I don’t fully understand this quote. It’s been really bothering me recently, especially since Gass seemed to adore a good amount of women writers. Do you have any insight into how this quote fits in with the rest of his work?

  14. I don’t have a good answer for you, Ron, but I appreciate your posing the question. The article was published in 1976, and I think this is important for context. This was the heyday of postmodern fiction. Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, published in 1973, was still all the rage. I entered college in 1980, and my professors were still abuzz about Gravity’s Rainbow — a work so crude at times that the Pulitzer folks refused to award the Prize to Pynchon even though the committee had selected it. Postmodernism was overcharged with testosterone. It was a male-dominated style of literature, and its female characters were often subordinate to their male counterparts and included mainly for titillating scenes (similar to cinema in the time period). There were great women writers at the time, of course, but very few had taken the postmodern turn. Perhaps Gass is suggesting that for female novelists to achieve the sort of acclaim afforded to Pynchon and other postmodernists (including Gass himself) they would have to produce work more like male writers were producing (of which Miller and Mailer were founding fathers). Women’s reluctance (timidity?) to indulge in the sort of artistic crudity that male writers were indulging in regularly (think of “Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife”) was preventing them from being more widely read and appreciated. I don’t know. Like us all (I would hope) Gass evolved. I doubt the Gass of the 21st century would have written Willie Masters’, a book, though wonderful in its way, seems dated in its objectification of the female form.

  15. Hey, Dr Morissey! I was also wondering, because I just got my hands on Gass’s PhD thesis, if you had any insight on it in relation to his work? Are you aware of his philosophy of metaphor and language changed measurably? I can’t seem to find specific essays after his dissertation that talks about nitty-gritty phil lang stuff, so I was curious! I hope you’re doing well.

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