fiction files redux discussion

After claiming Ulysses as my number one favourite novel, I always say Ask the Dust by John Fante is my second favourite. I bought the book in a lovely little shop in Venice because my friend Danielle absolutely insisted I buy it. I'm so glad I did! I know JE is a big admirer of Fante's work, too.

I came across this little blog in The Guardian by a journalist today, who writes about his discovery of Ask the Dust and it really rings home the effect the book had on me...those two crazy fucking characters and Fante's writing style creating this exquisite novel that just blows me away. I think of the story as a romantic nightmare...that's just my own opinion, of course. I certainly don't wish to claim it as one particular thing over another, and I don't mean romantic in the traditional sense and its associations. More like a romantic agony, as defined by scholar Mario Praz...but transported to American literature...or something along those lines.

There's two novels I always recommend to my friends and family: Summer in Baden Baden by Leonid Tsypkin and Ask the Dust.

Apparently L.A. city officials just named a square after John Fante. Which is a nice thing to do for a bit of cultural legacy.

Ask The Dust

p.s.

Robert Towne's movie version fucking sucked. Big time.

. . .yes, towne's movie sucked hard . . .

I am reading it now and it reminds me of every bloated egotiscal thought I have in my writings and I kept cringing at every writery gesticulating because I could see myself doing that.

. . .ha! yep, patrick, fear and arrogance, that's bandini!

i'd love an example of writery gesticulating. catchy phrase by the way!

There's this scene where Bandini read aloud his latest accepted work in front of the mirror, with grand gestures and another where he made a fourteen year old girl read his short story while he writhed on the hotel bed, sobbing with the sounds of his own prose. It seems a bit masturbatory for him to do that.

When I said a bit, I meant a lot. Masturbatory alot.

Ha! I forgot about that! A bit indeed!

Yesterday I secured my library copy. It wasn't easy, because a stern, German librarian told me they had to get it from an academic library.

Not quite as exciting as happening upon it in Venice, but still a bit mysterious.

It was hard to take this one back, but there was a yellow sticker inside that said, "Loss of this item could result in a $500 fine."



The way each of them painfully suffered formal shoes and sloughed them off really got to me.

I was at a dinner party recently raving to anybody who listened that they had to read Ask The Dust pronto because it's my second favourite book ever!

I finished Ask the Dust a couple weeks ago. I was not as big a fan as some of you. I didn't like Arturo Bandini, too self absorbed and a bit of a casual asshole. I HATED the way he treated Camilla. She may have been crazy, but he was a dick.

That being said, I loved the portrait of L.A. in the 30s the novel painted! The prose was beautiful. I am a frequent visitor to L.A. but I had never heard of Angel's Flight until I read this book!

While in L.A. this past weekend I met up with Mr. Ben Loory for a long, conversation filled dinner in Echo Park. I brought up Ask the Dust and he mentioned that Angel's Flight was not far from where we were. So we went and rode it! Here are a few pictures.

It was tiny and rickety and cost us each $1.00 for a round trip! It's been moved since Fante's day and it only goes up one short level to a park, not up two blocks like in the novel, but it was a cool experience! And from the top there was a lovely view of downtown L.A. at night. I'm glad we went.

. . . cool of benji to take you to bunker hill! . . . kerry, i think those of us who love the book, also find arturo unsympathetic on the surface . . . but for me, his bad behavior is so obviously weakness and hurt . . . i would imagine AB is a much easier character for guys to relate to . . .masculinity in crisis, and so forth . . .

I totally get that Johnny. And in context of the era in which it was written, the casual racism and sexism shouldn't bother me as much as it does, maybe? It just didn't speak to me. But I'm not denying it's a great little novel and beautifully written. I enjoyed some of the side characters very much like Vera, and the meat eating drunkard.

Ben and I had a lovely time. Sometimes getting some one on one time with a fellow Dork is just what life NEEDS!

I think generally I find him unsympathetic...though perhaps understandable. What strikes me is how much courage it took to write that book. It is too naked a writing not to be heavily influenced by private experienced by the writer. Loved and was horrified by the scene with the crabs (I think I have the right book since I read two of his).