MORNING ALL

1. I can't wait to read J.M. Coetzee's "The Blow," in the current New Yorker. I imagine my precious 100 pages of incomprehensible glamour advertising, suave pictures of ridiculously overpriced cars, and stuffily written articles from leading writers will complete its difficult transcontinental journey sometime around next Monday.

2. DFW's commencement speech shows some brilliance, but is a bit of a letdown. Maybe he toned it down for the kids. (via Literaisons)

3. Oh gosh . . .

4. Curious about Specimen Days, the new novel from Michael Cunningham? Look here.

5. I think my vacation managed to approach this ideal.

6. Read this interview.

I get the feeling that the exposure of constraint is important for the author as a way of showcasing the "passionate virtuosity" of the writer. If you go to all that trouble, you want people to notice. One can guess this is why Joyce gave away his game to Gilbert. While it might be amusing for awhile to have people not realize that one's book is written without any Es, one also doesn't want all that work to go unnoticed in the long run.

Yes, on being noticed (or ignored), I recall that Harry wrote somewhere that when he first encountered La Disparition, even he, predisposed as he was to appreciate such a book, didn't fully grasp the greatness of the accomplishment. This I took for fair warning that no matter how well you might conceive of and execute a project, when the project is really unusual or even unique, you can't expect people to take notice, no matter how the book is promoted or presented.

Also, I began Never Again at a time when I had temporarily exhausted ways to get Negativeland published. I set out to do something so difficult, that the act of completing it would be far more satisfying than any secondary ratification of its worth. But then, when I did complete it, I thought I ought to get some credit for it, and publication seemed to be the best way.