#alexander chee

[semperintrepida]

Too much writing about sex tries to either make it prettier or more serious, sexier or funnier or shocking, or anything, really, except what it is. On its own terms, sex is information. This I learned from reading Salter… Reading Salter’s sentences, I saw what I knew of sex, that sex is a moment in which you are known and knowable. Whatever it is you desire appears from behind the veil of shame or fantasy or nostalgia, or sheer impossibility, and in its presence, you are revealed to yourself. Porn obscures this; porn is about the fantasy of the viewer, not the mixed fantasies, realities, and disappointments of the actors in the room. Truth might get you off, but porn doesn’t deal in maybes, was never interested in unreliable, unpredictable truth-telling. When my teacher told me to read James Salter, what she meant was that this kind of sex writing is about you, the reader, in a way a fantasy isn’t. It describes sex so that it tells you something about the story and the characters and yourself, all at once.

—Alexander Chee, "Sex and Salter"

[little-mush]

Alexander Chee, quoting David Wojnarowicz, from Best American Essays 2022; “Foreward”

A quote from David Wojnarowicz, an artist and essayist who shaped me as much as any other, kept me company in 2021 as I made my choices. His friend the artist Zoe Leonard told him she feared her photographs of clouds were not up to the cultural moment of the AIDS crisis. He said to her, “Zoe, these are so beautiful, and that’s what we’re fighting for. We’re being angry and complaining because we have to, but where we want to go is back to beauty. If you let go of that, we don’t have anywhere to go.”

[for-yoongi0309]

Book author, Min Jin Lee shows her support for SUGA in a recent Instagram post, along with actors, Soji Arai, Alicia Hannah, author, Alexander Chee and actor/author, Samantha Futerman.

[wallbeatjournal]

if you had to base a new riverdale season off three movies, which would you choose and why? they could be tonal choices or you can pluck entire elements of the movies and work them in.

ok i broke the rules bc i didn't stick to movies, i went novels and pop culture with it too. and i also kind of embroidered a few references together around each main riff in a way that i think COULD be riverdalian, but these are my 3 selections:

jt leroy (2018). trashy iffy-hot-take kristen stewart/laura dern movie about a very 2000s literary scandal/internet drama run Too Far into irl drama that i think riverdale would know better what to do with. two ideas (this is a jughead plot btw):

put jughead in the dissociated trauma-projecting controlling persona-having laura albert/jt leroy role and rope veronica and reggie and their monetary-business motivations into the scam angle. monica posh savannah knoop stuff and rattling veronica and jughead around in a jar together intensely in a campy way

or step lightly outside the bounds of this script into the real livejournal and myspace based drama of it all and jughead's sometimes-characterization as a guy who needs help unpacking metaphor even though he's swimming in it. make him into one of the many emo band boys (ryan ross?? ryan ross????) who related so so so so sosososo much to the writing of jeremiah terminator and then had a whole crisis when j.t. was unmasked as a middle-aged woman with a metaphorical literary persona.

permissible bonus web-weaves: james frey a million little pieces and oprah, augusten burroughs and running with scissors. we're doing the 2000s obsession with author authenticity is-this-really-autobiographical-if-it's-not-literally-true-or-are-you-shaming-your-family-for-NOTHING questions and scandals. but we're especially doing the emo community freaking the fuck out about blorbo from their novels doing a catfish online to extend the persona just that much further.

the avril lavigne replacement conspiracy theory (linking the wiki even though what i'm REALLY thinking of here is this moving pandemic essay alexander chee my beloved posted that i can't locate now, riffing on themes of feeling like a ghost inhabiting your own life after a major trauma). they can work in some other famous body double / replacement and assassination conspiracies (paul is dead, jfk) too but avril is the main reference and this is a betty plot.

pull in some actual alexander chee images and motifs too maybe, his novels about csa grooming trauma and having complicated feelings about your intimate abusers via like grandiose opera/paris siege metaphors (the queen of the night) and fox demons (edinburgh) betty would eat, i fear, even if they're a step off her normal serial killer media mix. dark betty has the range <3

stephen king's the long walk / suzanne collins' the hunger games / battle royale / state-sponsored brutal murderous game show authority abuse dystopia media homage in general!! especially when it's homoerotic and full of ptsd and institutional abuse, because clearly this is a plot primarily for archie and the lads. imo the long walk ("how bad do you have to hate yourself to join the military" but it's game show horror) and the hunger games ("child stardom is traumatic institutional abuse especially in the era of social media and society simply pretends not to see it" but make it a ya game show adventure) should be the main references, but we could work the academic/art-competition angle of battle royale for kevin. as a treat. ok yeah and maybe work in that arnold schwarzenneger movie the running man too while we're here picking up interwoven motifs at the store. why not!

[ceeturnalia]

[whilereadingandwalking]

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee is an engrossing, vivid novel about a Parisian opera star with a hidden past. When a novelist tells her that a new opera is being written, she recognizes the plot—and begins to wonder which of the only three people who know her secret will have exposed her. We dive back into her past to tell the story of all the times she has died and be reborn, of the masks she's worn, of the roles she's played. She wants love, she loves admiration, but more than any of it she wants freedom, economic and total, free of strings. But is there any life free of strings, or does Fate itself hold hers?

There are definitely flaws to the novel. Chee falls into a classic pitfall of historical fiction, which is a perhaps over-enthusiasm for some of the details that I'm sure are fun, but that the reader doesn't actually need—like the list of the Empress's furs, or the full description of a playful late-night rendition of Hamlet. As I feel about most books over 400 pages, I feel that this one didn't have to be 553 pages, and could have been just as decadent and fun in closer to 450.

Her life is unbelievable in an entertaining sort of way. She had a miraculous kind of luck to accompany her intense, ruthless ambitious, and she knows from the start that it might mean Fate is setting her up for a large downfall, or correction. I will say that occasionally her emotions can feel almost shallowly one-dimensional. Once she's gotten it in her head that she doesn't like a situation, she tends to leave all her hard-earned money behind, and more importantly, her hopes for the opera, and flee without any thought of consequences. This could be frustrating on the 3rd or 4th go-around when it was obvious it wouldn't be that easy. Also, any health issues seem to heal miraculously perfectly to the point of never coming up again.

I really enjoyed the era and its lushness, learning about these great figures of history who I didn't know well, the descriptions of the music and its impact on her, from the lewd, exciting can-can at the Bar Mabille to the tightly wound courts of the Empress. It was a good enough novel that I wanted to see the mystery unravel (though I had my suspicions about who betrayed her from early on). My final complaint is that he says later that he had an ending in mind and wrote the novel to get there, and that felt clear—the ending felt like it didn't quite fit the story we had read.

Content warnings for sexual assault, domestic abuse, sex work, use of the g-slur, violence.

[maggotanatomy]

edinburgh by alexander chee

[nataliewaitesnotesapp]

“So if you are reading this, and you’re a writer, and you, like me, are gripped with despair, when you think you might stop: Speak to your dead. Write for your dead. Tell them a story. What are you doing with this life? Let them hold you accountable. Let them make you bolder or more modest or louder or more loving, whatever it is, but ask them in, listen, and then write. And when war comes — and make no mistake, it is already here — be sure you write for the living too. The ones you love, and the ones who are coming for your life. What will you give them when they get there?” — Alexander Chee

[elwenyere]

“Sometimes the writer writes one novel, then another, then another, and the first one he sells is the first one the public sees, but usually, the debut novel is not the first novel the writer wrote. There’s a private idea of the writer, known to the writer and whoever rejected him previously, and a public one, visible only in publication. Each book is something of a mask of the troubles that went into it, no matter how autobiographical it is, and so is the writer’s visible career.”

-- Alexander Chee, from "The Autobiography of My Novel"

[wretchfulreading]

There is a part of you, you see now, that is reckless. A part of you that still always wants to die but never wants to really go after it. So it makes mistakes instead.

- Edinburgh, Alexander Chee, p.213

[ih3artdirt]

not even when the god is you

[cjjasp]

Voice and Style vs. the Grammar Police #writing

Many of my blog posts revolve around grammar and the mechanics of writing. As authors, it’s important to understand the rules of the language in which we write. Yet, powerful writing often breaks those rules, and we are better for having read it. So why am I always pressing you to use proper punctuation? Authors must know the rules to break them with style. Readers expect words to flow in a…

[atompowers]

"Go up to the place in the bookstore where your books will go, she said. Walk right up and find your place on the shelf. Put your finger there, and then go every time.

In class, the idea seemed ridiculous. But at some point after the class ended, I did it. I walked up to the shelf. Chabon, Cheever. I put my finger between them and made a space. Soon, I did it every time I went to a bookstore."

—Alexander Chee, Annie Dillard & the Writing Life:

[murphysiblings]

does anyone know any good books abt csa or sexual abuse during adolescence in general ? contemporary fiction is preferred but im not picky

[embossross]

2024 in books: fiction edition

literary fiction published 2014-2024

Nefando by Monica Ojeda (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) - book of the year but warning it is the most triggering book i've ever read. i sobbed and could barely function for a full day. it's so painful. csa tw

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Tentacle by Rita Indiana (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Toño the Infallible by Evelio Rosero (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Outline by Rachel Cusk (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (⭐⭐⭐⭐) - rating this was the biggest challenge of the year because the highs are extraordinary but the lows are miserable. i literally hated it while reading it but then returned to it more than almost any other book this year.

black moses by alain mabanckou (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

crooked plow by itamar vieira junior (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

behold the dreamers by imbolo mbue (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

the north water by ian mcguire (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

dr. no by percival everett (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

birth canal by dias novita wuri (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

transcendent kingdom by yaa gyasi (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh (⭐⭐⭐)

the gospel according to the new world by maryse condé (⭐⭐⭐)

manhattan beach by jennifer egan (⭐⭐⭐)

the archive of alternate endings by lindsey drager (⭐⭐⭐)

the inheritance games by jennifer lynn barnes

(⭐⭐⭐)

the aunt who wouldn't die by shirshendu mukhopadhyay (⭐⭐⭐)

deacon king kong by james mcbride (⭐⭐⭐)

four minutes by nataliya deleva (⭐⭐⭐)

blood red gy gabriela ponce padilla (⭐⭐⭐)

boulder by eva baltasar (⭐⭐⭐) - i appear to be the only person not dazzled by this book and feel left out of the party, but i just don't get it.

burnt sugar by avni doshi (⭐⭐)

you glow in the dark by liliana colanzi (⭐⭐)

the pisces by melissa broder (⭐⭐)

our wives under the sea by julia armfield (⭐⭐) - another beloved sapphic book that left me bored out of my mind. the writing about bodies felt very 2018 tumblr (non-complimentary)

the touch system by alejandara costamagna (⭐) - just pointless. one star is probably harsh though.

divided island by daniela tarazona (⭐) - i will admit i might be too dumb for this book

fiebre tropical by juli delgado lopera (⭐)

a door behind a door by yelena moskovich (⭐) - and the razzie goes to...!

literary fiction published 1971-2013

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Kassandra and the Wolf by Margarita Karapanou (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Ahab's Wife, or the Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

In a Free State by V.S. Naipaul (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

My Tender Matador (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Happiness As Such by Natalia Ginzburg (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera (⭐⭐⭐⭐) - the way he nails how people would react to the covid pandemic 7 years early is wild in an otherwise pulpy mob thriller

shalash the iraqi (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

the disaster tourist by yun ko-eun (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

mother to mother by sindiwe magona (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

the route of ice and salt by josé luis zárate (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

pussy, king of the pirates by kathy acker (⭐⭐⭐)

awake by harald voetmann (⭐⭐⭐)

the raven king by nora sakavic (⭐⭐⭐)

touch by adania shibli (⭐⭐⭐)

cold nights of childhood by tezer ozlu (⭐⭐⭐)

the foxhole court by nora sakavic (⭐⭐⭐)

akhenaten: dweller in truth by naguib mahfouz (⭐⭐⭐)

the rooftop by fernanda trías (⭐⭐⭐)

tell them of battles, kings and elephants by mathias enard (⭐⭐)

sea of lentils by antonio rojo benitez (⭐)

literary fiction published start of time-1970

The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Masks by Fumiko Enchi (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Girl Upon Heaven's Pier by Eeva-Liisa Manner (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Final Exam by Julio Cortázar (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Two Novels: J and Seventeen by Kenzaburö Ōe (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) - J is an easy 5 star but Seventeen is more of a mixed bag

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

night on the galactic railroad and other stores from ihatov by kenji miyazawa (⭐⭐⭐)

the wild geese by Ōgai mori (⭐⭐⭐)

the phantom of the opera (⭐⭐⭐) - despised this while reading but my god did it leave an impression. the phantom swimming around with his reed just lying in wait makes me burst out laughing once a quarter "do you choose the GRASSHOPPER, Christine???" he's so stupid

madame bovary by gustave flaubert (⭐⭐⭐)

orlando by virgnia woolf (⭐⭐⭐)

mr. president by miguel ángel asturias (⭐⭐)

four stories by h.p. lovecraft (⭐) - the racist stench is just emanating off these stories and they're boring too for good measure

the mysterious correspondent: new stories by marcel proust (⭐)