Muse: A novel

"This is a love story. It's about the good old days, when men were men and women were women and books were books, with glued or even sewn bindings, cloth or paper covers, with beautiful and not-so-beautiful jackets and a musty, dusty, wonderful smell; when books furnished many a room, and their contents, the magic words, their poetry and prose, were liquor, perfume, sex and glory to their devotees."

Thus is the glorious beginning of this homage to books, authors, publishers and the business of bookmaking. Editor Paul Dukach comes up through the ranks, working for one titan of the business while developing a serious relationship with another titan. The common thread is the renowned poet, Ida Perkins, published by one and hotly sought by show more the other. Perkins adorns Rolling Stones' cover, cavorts with presidents and literati, and is breathlessly followed for her every pronouncement. (Oh, that the real world treated poets so!) Dukach, one of her most devoted readers, is suddenly called to Venice to meet the great lady. Perkins entrusts to him a secret task that could upend the publishing world and those he reveres.

Dukach is a fictional stand-in for author Jonathan Galassi, a poet in his own right, and editor in chief of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, fictionally rendered as Purcell & Stern. It is widely accepted that Roger Strauss is represented by Homer Stern as is James Laughlin as Sterling Wainwright. Readers in the know might also delight in finding doppelgangers of Susan Sontag, Jonathan Franzen, Elizabeth Bishop, Derek Wolcott and Seamus Heaney, among many others. The book is a bit long on exposition leaving a sense of remove rather than action, but delightedly so, with many a lovely turn of phrase.

One doesn't need to have an intimate knowledge of publishing to enjoy this book, but it certainly adds to its deliciousness.

I have dived now into Boris Kachka's "Hothouse", for the non-fictional history of FSG. show less

This novel was billed as "about writers' secrets, publishers' obsessions, manuscripts, love, loyalty, and betrayal." For the first 150 pages I felt really disappointed. But then, things picked up and I enjoyed it. Paul Dukach finally meets his idol, the poet Ida Perkins and learns the secret of her life and gets to publish her magnum opus posthumously. I was glad I read this book.

Tedious, intellectually indulgent name-dropping (and it's "fiction"!).

Novel set in publishing industry

Hoewel bij momenten vermakelijk - als een soort Mad Men van de Amerikaanse uitgeverswereld in de jaren 70 - stelt Muse teleur. Het boek vermomt zich als een sleutelroman, maar de imaginaire dichteres Ida Perkins gonst daar als een suikerzoete natte droom boven uit. Had Galassi Perkins' poëzie ongeciteerd gelaten, dan had hij op meer krediet kunnen rekenen. Maar met elke versregel loopt zijn literaire luchtbel een beetje meer leeg. Ook los van Perkins' poëzie weet Galassi slechts hier en daar de aandacht vast te houden. Veelal is het een te nadrukkelijke opsomming van echte en versleutelde namen en verwantschappen, verzonnen literaire weetjes en prijzen, die - anders dan bij bvb Roberto Bolano - nooit overtuigen. In het beste geval show more googel je eenmaal de naam Ida Perkins, voor alle andere namen - echt, versleuteld of verzonnen - doe je de moeite niet meer. show less