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Author Topic: Nicholson Baker  (Read 2185 times)

Joseph

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Nicholson Baker
« on: 12 Nov 2007, 17:54 »

Nicholson Baker is quite possible my favourite author.  Certainly, he's the living author I find I enjoy the most, and taking those who've passed into account, it's a damn close race.  His writing has struck me as the most unique and creative that I've come across in recent times, and he has a knack for making the least noteworthy event incredibly compelling.  I was wondering if anyone here happened to have read any of his works, and what your impressions were.

For the uninitiated, he's an American author, who's trademark has been the minute detail present in his books.  His first novel, The Mezzanine, covers the events in the mind of a man as he journeys to the mezzanine level of the office building he works at via the escalator.  His second novel, Room Temperature, continues in this vein, though focused on a longer time frame, covering a fraction of an hour in the life of a man, at home with his daughter.  In this book, the purpose of Baker's first two novels is cast:

I certainly believed, rocking my daughter on this Wednesday afternoon, that with a little concentration one's whole life could be reconstructed from any single twenty-minute period randomly or almost randomly selected; that is, that there was enough content in that single confined sequence on thoughts and events and the setting that gave rise to them to make connections that would proliferate backward until potentially every item of autobiographical interest - every pet theory, minor observation, significant moment of shame or happiness - could be at least glancingly covered; but you had to expect that a version of your past arrived at this way would exhibit, like the unhealthily pale frog, certain teltale differences of emphasis from the past you would recount if you proceeded serially, beginning with "I was born on January 5, 1957," and letting each moment give birth naturally to the next.  The particular cell you started from colored your entire re-creation.

The next two novels Baker produced were books of a completely different vein, though both retained a focused attention to detail and thought.  Both feature thoughts and focus of sex rather significantly.  Vox takes the form of a transcript of conversation between two people, a man and a women a country apart, speaking for the first time on a phone sex line.  This book though, does not compare to the sexually charged nature of his next work, The Fermata.  The Fermata is about a man who gains the ability to stop time, all those around him, at his will, and what he does with these abilities.  His exploits and obsessions are generally highly, highly sexual in nature, though he never crosses the border to rape.  Over the course of the novel, he reflects upon the exploits of his past, the events of his present life, and the nature of his abilities.  It's a fascinating read, the likely my favourite of Baker's works.

Baker's next novel, The Everlasting Story Of Nory, is about a nine year old girl in England, and is told through her eyes, in language like that which might be used by a girl that age, though it is still a wonderfully readable and compelling story.  It is distinct from his earlier work in that it doesn't get to feature his rather enormous vocabulary.

Baker's two most recent novels, A Box Of Matches and Checkpoint I have yet to read, though the first is apparently a return to the style used in Room Temperature, and the later is a conversation between two friends, one of whom plans to assassinate George W. Bush.

In addition to these, he's also produced some of my favourite non-fiction.  U and I is an early work of his, and is a book long essay on his love and admiration for John Updike.  Double Fold talks about the destruction of many old newspapers and books in research libraries in favour of microfilm and digital copies, and the loss that is happening because of this.  Its arguments are compelling, its language evocative; despite its seemingly dry subject matter, I found it more engaging than almost any novel I'd read in recent months.  He's also published a collection of essays, The Size Of Thoughts, which covers a range of topics from toenail clippers to the history of punctuation to metaphors using the word 'lumber.'

So, I suppose that's that.  He's an author I've found myself to be really passionate about, and I would love to hear if any of you have read his work, and the impressions you've gotten from it.  If you've yet to attempt a book by him, I strongly urge you to.  I couldn't recommend him more.
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Joseph

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Re: Nicholson Baker
« Reply #1 on: 14 Nov 2007, 22:05 »

The lack of responses to this is a clear sign that all of you should go to your nearest library/bookstore and find a copy of either The Fermata or The Mezzanine.
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jimbunny

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Re: Nicholson Baker
« Reply #2 on: 15 Nov 2007, 06:01 »

Next time I'm in the country. Sounds really interesting; would you say his is more of a philosophical bent? With the novels that cover very short periods of time, are they mostly flashbacks (that is to say, narrative)?
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Joseph

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Re: Nicholson Baker
« Reply #3 on: 15 Nov 2007, 11:29 »

There tends to be more of a philosophical bent, for certain, with many of the novels focusing on the characters interpretations of the events around them, and reflecting upon their personal beliefs, philosophies, and experiences.  The short-time period novels are mostly flashback, as a the thoughts that come to the characters are mostly memories, and the stories that accompany them.
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