Comments on: Sherman Alexie: I’d Like My Money Back and an Apology

By: angelle

angelle — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 01:22:34 +0000

Speaking of - you probably already know, but just in case, I read this in publisher’s weekly:

Native American author Sherman Alexie drew from his adolescence to write his first book for young adults, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Illustrated by Ellen Forney, the novel is due from Little, Brown in September with a 100,000-copy first printing. The plot, which centers on a budding cartoonist who leaves the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school, closely parallels Alexie’s own teenage years. Little, Brown has produced a discussion guide to the novel and is sending Alexie on a tour that will encompass at least 12 cities.

By: frank

frank — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:39:14 +0000

I agree completely that an author has every right to go outside of his or her comfort zone to explore narrative. I’m not convinced that this was the case with Flight. I mean, sure, the flight instructor was white, but even the indian characters lacked depth. I appreciate the read and the attention to my blog…Thank you.

By: Bette Rush

Bette Rush — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:45:42 +0000

To me, Sherman Alexie’s kind of writing is largely experimental in all forms:poetry, music, short stories, novels, teen books and maybe even comics soon since he seems to do his best as a stand-up comedian these days. His stories and poetry have always reflected the life and times he’s living in and those “Lone Ranger” stories were written way back in the mid-nineties when reservation life was most familiar. His books move along with him, in different directions, off the reservation to a middle class and then upper middle class existence. Before “Flight” he never dared to explore a white character as he now does with the flight instructor because he had no feeling of what it was to be white. Writers have a right to experiment with anything and it’s up to us whether or not we want purchase the material.I’m a writer for “Ocean Drive” which is a glamour magazine but I’ve done so many technical, environmental and holistic articles in the last 20 years for magazines all over the world in 7 different languages, and a big book on UFO’s.There was a time that I was writing articles solely about the space program and I was getting terribly bored with myself. There is nothing wrong with being versatile and changing styles and formats.You are right in that often a first book is the best one as far as concept and style and personalization, but then it’s the reader who always wants to see more from the writer, and preferably a novel, prompting the publisher to lay out a particular contract that usually includes novel writing as a part of the deal. Personally,I think Alexie does his best work as a poet but a publisher wants a project that will sell and poetry is never high on the list. This is why his poetry will likely forever be published by Hanging Loose Press which is far less prestigious than Grove.

By: angelle

angelle — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:33:57 +0000

thanks for indulging me on the mfa question. btw, i heard columbia’s rep is going down, lots of nasty gossip there…if i were to go anywhere, i don’t know i’d choose columbia anyway since i did my undergraduate (haha, as if i’d get in!) there, but i do love new york. interesting how you said it didn’t help your writing… my biggest concern about an mfa is i’ve heard from editor friends that sometimes mfas come out way too “cookiecutter” and formulaic, as if their creativity were beaten out of them, in order to follow certain rules or cannons. i wonder how true that is. i’d like to become tighter in how i approach things, learn the craft better and help elevate my writing, but i also don’t want to box myself in too much by what i’ve learned. but you said it helped you with your instincts. i think i have a pretty decent instinct with my writing right now, so i wonder if an mfa would enhance that or take it away. of course, becoming a more careful reader is a plus…

i’m babbling again, sorry.

btw your post makes me think again of all the times i’ve gotten angry at the industry for making it so that there’s so much bad writing on the shelves, and some perfectly good writers probably never see the light of day. as much as i’d like to hold on to an ideal of writing as an “art”, there’s no denying the hand of capitalism and $$$$ on what’s available these days. which. totally sucks. hopefully alexie will move past this, and write some new books that will restore your faith in him as a writer…. (i’ve never read him, so i can’t comment on his writing at all)

By: Tim Callahan

Tim Callahan — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:41:16 +0000

Poor Sherman. It’s hard to live in the shadow of Herman Melville.

By: frank

frank — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:33:50 +0000

Right after I posted the entry, I snooped around for articles and other reviews of the book. I came across an article on an incident Alexie had with a Denver Post reporter, who wrote unfavorably about the book. She accused his publisher of putting it out as a paperback original because they were embarrassed by the quality of his work. Alexie launched a tirade against the woman…He’s a little too defensive…

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:00:35 +0000

Oh, and click on my name for a link to my new blog…

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:53:25 +0000

Why are you always ragging on all these authors? And where were you yesterday? I’m reading “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”, and I have about ten new pieces to show you.