: But this week, I've expcted to read lively discussions
about THE
: BURNT ORANGE HERESY. Chales Willevord is one of my favorite
great
: writers and I believe THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY is his
masterpiece.
I don't know which one I consider his masterpiece, but this
could well
be it. Don't be shy about talking about him - what do you
think makes
it so great? And are there translations of Willeford's books
into
Japanese?
A couple of things I like about the book:
- the bit about not wanting Berenice to take drags off his
cigarette.
In university I smoked Camels, and other people saw them as a
tasty
party treat and would ask me for a drag. I didn't like
them
dribbling their saliva all over my smokes, and I also didn't
like the
way it interrupted the oneness of a unit of cigarette. I did
my best
to memorize James' speech and used it often. It worked.
- the knowledge Willeford has about the art world, painting,
dealing
and criticism. It's amazing the things he knows.
Cockfighting,
selling cars, making movies, marketing silver flatware - you
expect
crime writers to know about cops, but putting over a fake
"Nihilstic
Surrealist" artist, complete with body of criticism, takes
real
talent. I've lent the book to a couple of artists and they
loved it.
And then there's the plot, which is very ingenious, and the
writing,
which is perfect Willeford.
One thing I can't recall: the earlier fire, which supposedly
burned
up all of Debierue's work, did that happen just after the
previous
critic visited the painter, or did Debierue do it himself to
cover up
the lack of paintings? And why would Figueras think Debierue
actually
sat in his studio four hours a day, trying to paint, when it
seems
obvious to me that he hadn't done a stitch of work since "No.
One,"
which took him two minutes?
Bill
--
William Denton | Toronto, Canada | http://www.vex.net/~buff/ | Caveat lector.
"Let's keep the party polite."
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