Nicholson Baker's genuine claim that his thoughts are nothing but pedestrian seems ludicrous when you hear him read excerpts from his books. Although he studies the everyday with microscopic vision he does so with a poet's sensibility. His ability to evoke profundity from a box of envelopes, starched shirtsleeves and an ant farm leaves you breathless. When you hear him discuss his thought process you can only hope to access a smidgen of his vision the next time you clean the fuzz off your phonograph needle, or lace a shoe. This interview goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. Baker's accessibility, the effective moderators and the great Q&A from the audience leave you wanting to read all of his books, wanting to see the universe as he sees it. Play this wherever you have a free hour.
Thoughtful, wide-ranging interview about all manner of stuff: writing, reading, aging, reviews ("getting reviewed by the NYT"s Michiko Kakutami is like having your liver removed without anesthesia"...), influences, early work, later work. Baker is a good talker and the host is an easy conversationalist. Baker does several readings and suprisingly the Q and A isn't bad. Among other things, Nicholson Baker is a prose stylist of the small, the mundane, the tiny. After listening to this hour you feel a certain kind of inspiration to go outside and look around and see if you've been missing anything.
Comments for The Writers Studio, featuring Nicholson Baker
This piece belongs to the series "The Writers Studio"
Produced by KERA 90.1 and The Writers Garret
Other pieces by Abby Goldstein
Rating Summary
2 comments
Chelsea Merz
Posted on October 20, 2004 at 06:28 AM | Permalink
Review of The Writers Studio, featuring Nicholson Baker
Nicholson Baker's genuine claim that his thoughts are nothing but pedestrian seems ludicrous when you hear him read excerpts from his books. Although he studies the everyday with microscopic vision he does so with a poet's sensibility. His ability to evoke profundity from a box of envelopes, starched shirtsleeves and an ant farm leaves you breathless. When you hear him discuss his thought process you can only hope to access a smidgen of his vision the next time you clean the fuzz off your phonograph needle, or lace a shoe. This interview goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. Baker's accessibility, the effective moderators and the great Q&A from the audience leave you wanting to read all of his books, wanting to see the universe as he sees it. Play this wherever you have a free hour.
Mary McGrath
Posted on August 20, 2004 at 09:29 AM | Permalink
Review of The Writers Studio, featuring Nicholson Baker
Thoughtful, wide-ranging interview about all manner of stuff: writing, reading, aging, reviews ("getting reviewed by the NYT"s Michiko Kakutami is like having your liver removed without anesthesia"...), influences, early work, later work. Baker is a good talker and the host is an easy conversationalist. Baker does several readings and suprisingly the Q and A isn't bad. Among other things, Nicholson Baker is a prose stylist of the small, the mundane, the tiny. After listening to this hour you feel a certain kind of inspiration to go outside and look around and see if you've been missing anything.