NYRB Classics discussion

Our July book club choice is:

Mawrdew Czgowchwz by James McCourt with an introduction by Wayne Koestenbaum

Diva Mawrdew Czgowchwz (pronounced “Mardu Gorgeous”) bursts like the most brilliant of comets onto the international opera scene, only to confront the deadly malice and black magic of her rivals. Outrageous and uproarious, flamboyant and serious as only the most perfect frivolity can be, James McCourt’s entrancing send-up of the world of opera has been a cult classic for more than a quarter-century. This comic tribute to the love of art is a triumph of art and love by a contemporary American master.

The topic is now open for all comments. Spoilers are welcome.

Some background links:

Interviews:
https://parterre.com/zine-archive/hel...

https://lastbohemians.blogspot.com/20...

Reviews:
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/08/bo...

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...

Susan Sontag On Camp:

https://time.com/5584111/met-gala-201...

https://monoskop.org/images/5/59/Sont...

Thanks Sam. Picked up an ebook yesterday as a physical book delivery was due for... mid August.

I ordered this. It sounds unlike anything I’ve read so far!

I read the reviews Sam linked and one reviewer described McCourt as a high stylist. I’m not sure what that means. Is it similar to be a character actor? Meaning McCourt has a writing style all his own?

WndyJW wrote: "I ordered this. It sounds unlike anything I’ve read so far!

I read the reviews Sam linked and one reviewer described McCourt as a high stylist. I’m not sure what that means. Is it similar to be a ..."

I look at the 'high," as referring to high arts or high culture and 'high stylist," as catering the to the style of high culture. Opera is the high art background for this novel. But "camp," is the word to define the novel and yet is a hard term to easily define to someone unfamiliar with it, since it is more of "I know it when I see it," type of distinction. Frank McCourt is writing in what I consider a "camp" style which is associated with LGBTQ culture which existed prior to AIDS in the 1980's. When you get the novel start reading you will see what I mean.

BTW, I have started the novel, but set it aside for a couple of days to catch up on monthly reads for other groups since we tend to get to our novels a little later in this group. I do want to check how people are doing with the book that might not be familiar with the New York setting, opera, or the background LGBTQ culture (which at the time was not called LGBTQ) which form a basis for the satire to unwind. If you find your self a bit lost, feel free to ask as you go along. Hopefully one of us can help one another. Just one early note. This is novel was published post Stonewall riots(1969) and pre AIDS epidemic (1981) in a significantly upbeat time for gay liberation in the U.S. for that decade. I think the novel captures that spirit a bit.

Sam wrote: "I do want to check how people are doing with the book that might not be familiar with the New York setting, opera, or the background LGBTQ culture (which at the time was not called LGBTQ) which form a basis for the satire to unwind."

That would be me, haha. I haven't started yet, but I am charging my e-reader, so baby steps.

I finished the first chapter the other day and also set it aside for a couple of days. So far, I think it's really easy to follow despite not getting all the references or being particularly into opera. What struck me the most is how queer fandom, especially as it pertains to gay men and pop divas, has remained virtually unchanged since then. So it really sounds fresh and current!

Samuel wrote: "I finished the first chapter the other day and also set it aside for a couple of days. So far, I think it's really easy to follow despite not getting all the references or being particularly into o..."

I see what you mean Samuel, though I think the differences are worth mentioning as things are much more out there now where back then there was an underground feel to the culture.

One thing worth noting is this is a novel full of quotable quotes. I hesitated from posting any from the first chapter but I reserve the right to do so jn the future. I cannot resist this from the second chapter:

The Baron Shmendrick, the provident diamond peddler, arrived after curtain call with a dozen-odd Broadway doxies hired for the occasion, all of them tarted up like Waldorf hookers but in the actual merchandise (and covered by security dicks like guardian angels packing rods) and all looking, as Paranoy reported, “painfully like naked trees in hibernal Tiffany windows—drenched in alien tinsel.” There they all stood in Valentine-bodice taffeta décolleté, none of them young, really. Dolly Farouche, the society chanteuse and now-and-then Rialto star, whose modest diamond earbobs were her own to wear, stood aside slapping pâté lapin on a Ry-Krisp when Thalia Bridgewood whispered thickly from across the buffet, “Ever see so much diamond dust in one room, dahling?” Dolly swung around, biting into her canapé, pulled one earbob off, and held it out, snapping acidly, “Whaddya think these the fuck are, Bridgewood—chicken livers!?” It was that sort of occasion.

My copy is still at the library waiting for me to pick it up. Will do so soon.

Thanks, Sam. I love NYC and it will be refreshing to read an upbeat novel about gay culture.

Stonewall is important in gay rights so in my mind it was a much bigger place, not the nondescript little corner bar type bar that it is.

My copy arrived today and I had to look up two words in the first sentence! Sempiternal, which mean eternal, but usually refers to earthbound things, unlike God who is out of time, and divadienst, which is the fanaticism of opera devotees.

WndyJW wrote: "My copy arrived today and I had to look up two words in the first sentence! Sempiternal, which mean eternal, but usually refers to earthbound things, unlike God who is out of time, and divadienst, ..."

Haha I had the same response. I knew septiternal because I live in a Romance-language speaking country but I was still impressed to see it just chucked into the first sentence like that.

I'm now in chapter 2 and love the writing...though I wonder if I can handle another 200-odd pages of it.

Emily wrote: ..." I'm now in chapter 2 and love the writing...though I wonder if I can handle another 200-odd pages of it.

It is kind of like an endurance test, isn't it? I think my pleasure from this book will come mainly from reflection when I am finished.

The post is now up where you can nominate a book for August's reading.

How are people doing on this? I've read three chapters and I might leave it there. Not because I dislike it -- the writing is still very entertaining and I'm practically blindsided by McCourt's vocabulary and verbal dexterity. Like so many NYRB books, it's a pleasing reminder that "oh, a novel can also be this."

It's just also a bit long and I'm not sure it's going anywhere. And my reading pile has just exploded.

I could be convinced otherwise though!

Same here. I only made it to the 4th chapter. As Emily said, it's very well-written but also there's no forward momentum to the plot so you sort of just don't feel the urge to get back into it. In the meantime, I finished Alfred and Guinevere and am now halfway through What's for Dinner? (also by James Schuyler). I might still pick this one back up again, but for some reason, it's not grabbing me in this very hot and humid weather!

I have two chapters left and will finish though not today. The book does seem to become less interesting after the intensity of the initial chapters. I wanted to read this book more for its capturing of the language, themes, and culture of a specific subgroup from a previous time, which the book is satisfying for me. I would have liked more story and wish I might have been more familiar with real life references the author was making, but I am afraid most of those were beyond me especially if our characters were suggestive of certain people. I will add my thoughts at the finish and tell everyone if there is a reason they might want to continue. I read the NYRB classics more for cultural interest and what I would call academic stimulus. I expect when reading one I will be googling more and have lasting thoughts where I might consider something that caught my attention in the book. Sometimes they miss but on the whole I have appreciated all I have read. And I love them for their time machine elements, sending me back into the past to read a book that has been deemed worth republishing.

Here is a good blog link about McCourt and his other books as well as this one.

https://denniscooperblog.com/the-seve...

This is my last post on Mawrdew Czgowchwz in case anyone wanted to know what happened. Mawrdew. Eventually she meets a male oltrano and they make beautiful music together, premiering a new opera after a hurricane in the Hamptons and finally sail away together into the sunset. literally.

And here is one last link of a paper on the language in the novel.

https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...

I'm giving up. I really cannot connect to this at all.