March 23rd, 2010 / 9:30 am
Snippets

If you could live one writer’s life instead of your own, whose would it be?  (My picks: Nabokov and James Salter.  Despite Salter’s melancholia over having missed out on going to the moon by quitting flying.)  Alternately, whose life would you least like to live?  (Malcolm Lowry.  Alcoholic.  Wife attacked by dogs.)  Typing this just reminded me of that old list of 5 Writers More Badass than the Characters They Created.

24 Comments

  1. James

      Don’t sell Lowry short. The fucking squatter shack he lived in, in British Columbia, burned down and he almost lost the only draft of Under The Volcano, though all his other writing was destroyed. It took him like ten years of rejections to get Volcano published and it took him something like ten weeks to get from BC to New York for the release of his book because he had to be hospitalized various times along the way for alcoholism. Then he choked to death on his own vomit in his sleep. Dude was fucking cursed.

  2. James

      Don’t sell Lowry short. The fucking squatter shack he lived in, in British Columbia, burned down and he almost lost the only draft of Under The Volcano, though all his other writing was destroyed. It took him like ten years of rejections to get Volcano published and it took him something like ten weeks to get from BC to New York for the release of his book because he had to be hospitalized various times along the way for alcoholism. Then he choked to death on his own vomit in his sleep. Dude was fucking cursed.

  3. brittany wallace

      anthony bourdain

  4. brittany wallace

      anthony bourdain

  5. Sean

      what’s wrong with being drunk while your wife is attacked by dogs?

  6. Sean

      what’s wrong with being drunk while your wife is attacked by dogs?

  7. stephen

      What Would Anthony Bourdain Do, i often ask myself

  8. stephen

      What Would Anthony Bourdain Do, i often ask myself

  9. Nick Antosca

      I know. That’s why I’d never ever want to have his life.

  10. Nick Antosca

      Yeah that’s a pretty good one.

  11. Nick Antosca

      I know. That’s why I’d never ever want to have his life.

  12. Nick Antosca

      Yeah that’s a pretty good one.

  13. Alec Niedenthal

      William Gass. So fat, but he has so many books and he talks about his dick so much that I’m a little intrigued.

  14. Alec Niedenthal

      William Gass. So fat, but he has so many books and he talks about his dick so much that I’m a little intrigued.

  15. Nick Antosca

      I don’t think I could deal with being obese.

  16. Nick Antosca

      But if I could, George RR Martin would be a fun choice. Or Benjamin Franklin.

  17. Nick Antosca

      I don’t think I could deal with being obese.

  18. Nick Antosca

      But if I could, George RR Martin would be a fun choice. Or Benjamin Franklin.

  19. Hayden Derk

      Oscar Wilde or Yukio Mishima.

      I like the pattern of education, self-discovery, brilliance and tragedy.

  20. Hayden Derk

      Oscar Wilde or Yukio Mishima.

      I like the pattern of education, self-discovery, brilliance and tragedy.

  21. Craig Davis

      Most: Wendell Berry or Larry Brown.

      Least: Charles Bukowski.

  22. Craig Davis

      Most: Wendell Berry or Larry Brown.

      Least: Charles Bukowski.

  23. Muzzy

      Hayden –
      I get Mishima, but WIlde? Ten years in prison, breaking rocks? You really are a masochist.

      Me, I’d go for Chekov’s life. He seems like he was a pretty decent guy, and happy. Except that he had to live in Russia.

      Rimbaud got to be a gun runner and live a life of debauchery in Africa. On the other hand, he also got shot and had his leg amputated.

      This is going to sound trite, but I think I might have to go for Shakespeare. At least he got paid for his work, and he got to drink with Jonson.

  24. Muzzy

      Hayden –
      I get Mishima, but WIlde? Ten years in prison, breaking rocks? You really are a masochist.

      Me, I’d go for Chekov’s life. He seems like he was a pretty decent guy, and happy. Except that he had to live in Russia.

      Rimbaud got to be a gun runner and live a life of debauchery in Africa. On the other hand, he also got shot and had his leg amputated.

      This is going to sound trite, but I think I might have to go for Shakespeare. At least he got paid for his work, and he got to drink with Jonson.