Read Stanley Elkin

Granted, this is a bit outside of our normal purview, but Stanley Elkin was such an amazing writer that I can’t help but mention the “In Retrospect” look at George Mills currently going on at Critical Mass.

The current post is from Abby Frucht about Elkin’s writing classes—which were classically humiliating and funny:

Then he’d read aloud from one of our own manuscripts before asking, “Now, can anyone tell me what THIS piece a shit is about?”

“A man throwing up in a sauna,” one of us might hesitantly offer.

“Embarrassment?”

“Some middle-aged guy who –“

“It’s about the idea of humility,” the bravest of us might interject. [. . .]

“Will someone tell me what this story is REALLY about? I’ll tell you what it’s not about. It’s not about some loser asshole sitting around pondering the idea of humility. It’s about some loser asshole who is going to die,” he’d say. “You know how I know that?”

Nobody spoke, because we knew he wanted to be the person to tell us the answer.

“I know that this story is about some loser asshole who is going to die because we’re all loser assholes who are going to die and that’s what every halfway decent story is ever about. Should be, anyway.”

If you read The Franchiser, or The Magic Kingdom, you’ll see how this grumbling perspective can be transformed into verbal fun and games on the page. And his best books all happen to be about loser assholes who are going to die . . .