A Story about a Father
June 21, 2020 8:10 AM Subscribe
The Silver Dish. This story written by Saul Bellow is not well-known but some consider it to be one of the best short stories of the last century. It is about a roguish father who derails the life of his son, and yet the two of them remain essential to each other all the way to the end. The story's prose and construction according to author Ethan Canin, "answers almost every question a young writer could have about fiction writing." Its humor and exuberance is a gift to the reader.
Excerpt from Silver Dish:
"Woody was moved when things were honest. Bearing beams were honest, undisguised concrete pillars inside high-rise apartments were honest. It was bad to cover up anything. He hated faking. Stone was honest. Metal was honest. These Sunday bells were very straight. They broke loose, they wagged and rocked, and the vibrations and the banging did something for him – cleansed his insides, purified his blood. A bell was a one-way throat, had only one thing to tell you and simply told it. He listened."
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The story is anthologized in the Best American Short Stories of the Century, and in Bellow's own collection - Him with His Foot in his Mouth.
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Canin: "I’ve heard [the Deadwood creator] David Milch say (though I might be butchering it slightly) that it’s easier to plot your way into an idea than it is to idea your way into a plot. And I think a lot of writers start out making the mistake of trying to write a novel about something. Novels are discussed as though they are intentionally about something, but they’re not. They’re stories. We’re taught to think about them that way by literary critics, or by English teachers, who are, in their defense, generally trying to teach you to write a paragraph rather than a novel. But to be a writer, I think, you have to abandon the idea that fiction is “about” something. This concept is bad enough in your reading life. But it’s fatal in your writing life."
Excerpt from Silver Dish:
"Woody was moved when things were honest. Bearing beams were honest, undisguised concrete pillars inside high-rise apartments were honest. It was bad to cover up anything. He hated faking. Stone was honest. Metal was honest. These Sunday bells were very straight. They broke loose, they wagged and rocked, and the vibrations and the banging did something for him – cleansed his insides, purified his blood. A bell was a one-way throat, had only one thing to tell you and simply told it. He listened."
---
The story is anthologized in the Best American Short Stories of the Century, and in Bellow's own collection - Him with His Foot in his Mouth.
--
Canin: "I’ve heard [the Deadwood creator] David Milch say (though I might be butchering it slightly) that it’s easier to plot your way into an idea than it is to idea your way into a plot. And I think a lot of writers start out making the mistake of trying to write a novel about something. Novels are discussed as though they are intentionally about something, but they’re not. They’re stories. We’re taught to think about them that way by literary critics, or by English teachers, who are, in their defense, generally trying to teach you to write a paragraph rather than a novel. But to be a writer, I think, you have to abandon the idea that fiction is “about” something. This concept is bad enough in your reading life. But it’s fatal in your writing life."
Thank you so very much. I loved this, and I want to be the daughter that Morris would be interested in.
posted by winesong at 1:23 PM on June 21, 2020
posted by winesong at 1:23 PM on June 21, 2020
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posted by potrzebie at 11:51 AM on June 21, 2020