The Monkey King's Used Primate Emporium and Book Reviews

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Jackson J. Benson, �John Steinbeck, Writer�

Started October 30 � Finished November 10, 2002; 1124 pages. Yes, that�s right � 1124 pages. Posted 12 November 2002

Let�s start this with a preface � this is a long book, so I�m not going to feel bad about a long entry.

I�ve had a lot of people tell me that I have a big mouth, and that my unwillingness to keep it closed is going to get me into trouble someday. About 10 years ago, these same people were able to smugly say, �I told you so� when a reader of my columns (pre-blog, actual paper and ink columns) didn�t like what I wrote about him and knocked my front tooth out.

And so what? We�ll get to that. First, I�ll start by noting that while I�m fairly ambivalent toward biographies, I tend to dislike ones involving literary authors. For one, it makes me feel like somebody is trying to cash in on another person�s body of work.

Then there is the matter of the biographer repeating the same things the author has already said, or they quote heavily from the works of the author, which we�ve already read. Worst is when the biographer tries to interject their own analysis of certain works.

Analysis is a funny thing, and one�s opinion hardly gels with another�s. All too often I�ve read some hack�s perspective and asked aloud if they were either high, or just really stupid.

This biography has none of that. For its length and breadth of coverage, this is really a monumentally good piece of work. It is never repetitive and it tries to cover ground not approached by the slew of other writers who chose Steinbeck as their cash cow.

Equal time and importance is spent on his childhood, early magazine writing, early novels, military history, traveling to Russia and France, later works, and all the way up to his death. What I really like is that Benson avoids hero worship, and he�s perfectly willing to note that some of Steinbeck�s books stunk on ice.

One think that I keep thinking about is the descriptions of Steinbeck mercilessly pushing his writing on other people. Though he doesn�t want suggestions, he seems to want acceptance. He wants to hear somebody laugh if he wrote something he thinks is funny, or hear their reaction if he writes something that touches them. He repeatedly stated that he doesn�t care about critics, yet he seemed to read every review of his work.

I understand. I constantly shove things I�ve written on other people, be it the book from England, the screenplay, or even this journal. I�m not exactly sure why I do this, but it probably comes from my rotten experiences at school from the K-12 years. (Or, in my case, K-10, since I got thrown out in my sophomore year.)

I had one counselor, frustrated with seeing me in her office every day, who finally said out of exasperation that I would never succeed on an academic level. And so when I get the same reactions I think Steinbeck was looking for, I�m immensely pleased � It�s one more middle finger to that counselor from so many years ago.

Even if the person doesn�t like what I�ve written, which has certainly happened, I find it incredibly neat that people found it good enough to read despite that they didn�t like what I wrote. After all, I�m not forcing you to read these entries � I just prod gently.

So I was thinking about this last night when I finished the book, and my plan was to express gratitude for those of you that do read these dopey things. While Steinbeck tried to pretend he wasn�t fishing for complements, I�ll be more honest and say I can�t measure how much pleasure I get from hearing those reactions I hoped for when I forced my mangled prose upon some poor sucker.

There have been several times where a small comment or acknowledgement have lifted me out of a funk of depression, more so than any bottle of whisky can do, although that certainly helps.

So imagine my surprise when I got this message in my e-mail today:

http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/nov01/dirge.shtml

Really, how cool is that? Sure Roman Dirge is calling me an asshole (for the review of his book Something at the Window is Scratching, reviewed here, but how cool is it that he actually took the time to read what I said? I�m pretty excited, even if he hates my guts. It�s proof that other people are reading it besides Joe, Alan, Yoni and Fern.

In fairness though, let�s review his points. After all, I am a man (whatever the hell THAT means).

Dirge notes that Lenore was created before Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, and thus could not be ripped off. But it�s important to keep in mind that the only exposure I had with Lenore came AFTER reading Vasquez�s work, and it was an individual comic published AFTER the inception of Johnny.

Has Lenore always been of the same style and setup? I can�t say, because I haven�t read the older ones. Based upon what I read, I don�t plan to. Out of a spirit of altruism, however, if a copy of his anthology comes through the store, I�ll pick it up, and comment on it.

�Something at the Window� came out before Burton�s work of �children�s stories�. Fine, and while I WAS commenting on that book in particular, I also noticed the similarities of Dirge�s art with the minor characters in Beetlejuice � which came out in 1988.

Dirge says I should bother to get my facts straight and maybe do research, but I never presented anything as fact. What I said was, �I always considered Dirge to be a cheap knock off of Jhonen Vasquez.� That�s an opinion � I considered.

Semantics? Possibly. It should be very apparent that everything on this site is opinion. Hell, some �reviews� never even mention the book in question. But I have the right to say my opinion, just as Dirge has the right to call me an asshole, which seems to be his opinion. Besides, does it really matter what came out first? Which is better, being considered a hack or as the originator whose work pales in comparison with others that came after you?

Finally, Dirge says he doesn�t really care if somebody likes his work or not. I don�t think that�s true. I don�t think he would have responded as he did if he didn�t care. I also believe this is good � enjoying what you do and wanting others to enjoy it as well. It�s not ego, it�s just validation of what you�ve worked on.

Still, I�ll try and be a little nicer than usual. I do remember one Lenore piece involving why you shouldn�t give tummy kisses to your cat that was really funny. And Roman, I�d like to suggest that you find somebody you don�t know who admires your work and contact them to say thank you. All too often, the only correspondence between people stems from complaints. No wonder everyone is always in a rotten mood.

To make a long tangent longer, thanks to a whole hell of a lot of you for praise, support, or free drinks � Beth, Lovas, Kimb, Dennis, Babydave, my sister and her fan club, Dan, every other journal writer on this site who linked me, Gloria, Tink, Nuar, Arica, Brian, all the other Recycle employees and/or owners, Jason, Alex, Kisa, Linda from Lincoln Ave... Way too many to list. It�s too late to not be sappy here, but I just thought I mention it, since Steinbeck never seemed to.

Jesus, I�m sounding like I�m accepting a fucking Grammy award or something. Hell, I�ll even thank Roman for reading.

But before he gets any ideas about my teeth, I�ll mention that I was a pacifist back then. I am not a pacifist now.


Rating: Worth used (only because it�s fucking 25 dollars for a softcover! Jesus Christ!)

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