Sunday, June 06, 2004
ENTER DAVE THE NEXT
First there was Foster Wallace. Then it was Sedaris. Subsequently, Eggers. Briefly, it was Rakoff. Of course, the order presented here is entirely arbitrary. Don't feel offended if I didn't mention your favourite Dave first. I drop these names merely to make the point that The Four Daves have morphed into Five. It's David Bezmozgis who has most recently made the cut and is destined for literary greatness, or so we are supposed to believe. This belief is shallowly affirmed by the author's stunning photograph, as shown in the Quill & Quire profile on Bezmozgis [which reminds me of the Franzen author shot that left so many of us drooling when The Corrections hit the scene].
His first offering is a collection of stories, titled Natasha and Other Stories, three of which have appeared in Harper's, The New Yorker, and Zoetrope. [An aside: after reading this sampling of Bezmozgis' work, I am reminded of my friend Susan M.'s writing, which focuses on the perspective of Serbian and Croatian immigrants and their families, with Hamilton, Ontario as the backdrop. No online content, but a sampling of her work can be found here in print format].
Moral of the story: struggling Canadian writers need only to get an agent in New York and they'll be on their way to relative literary stardom. Oh, and I suppose some talent might help on that front too. Now, can anyone tell me whatever happened to David Rakoff?
First there was Foster Wallace. Then it was Sedaris. Subsequently, Eggers. Briefly, it was Rakoff. Of course, the order presented here is entirely arbitrary. Don't feel offended if I didn't mention your favourite Dave first. I drop these names merely to make the point that The Four Daves have morphed into Five. It's David Bezmozgis who has most recently made the cut and is destined for literary greatness, or so we are supposed to believe. This belief is shallowly affirmed by the author's stunning photograph, as shown in the Quill & Quire profile on Bezmozgis [which reminds me of the Franzen author shot that left so many of us drooling when The Corrections hit the scene].
His first offering is a collection of stories, titled Natasha and Other Stories, three of which have appeared in Harper's, The New Yorker, and Zoetrope. [An aside: after reading this sampling of Bezmozgis' work, I am reminded of my friend Susan M.'s writing, which focuses on the perspective of Serbian and Croatian immigrants and their families, with Hamilton, Ontario as the backdrop. No online content, but a sampling of her work can be found here in print format].
Moral of the story: struggling Canadian writers need only to get an agent in New York and they'll be on their way to relative literary stardom. Oh, and I suppose some talent might help on that front too. Now, can anyone tell me whatever happened to David Rakoff?
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