Sunday, May 24, 2015

Self-Published Greatest Masterpieces of the 20th Century




In a 1966 National Educational Television network interview, Nabokov opined that the "greatest masterpieces of twentieth-century prose are, in this order: Joyce's Ulysses; Kafka's Transformation; Bely's St. Petersburg; and the first half of Proust's fairy tale, In Search of Lost Time." 

Coincidentally, Ulysses and In Search of Lost Time were self-published. Joyce and Proust weren't the only famous novelists to self-publish. For example, Upton Sinclair, Carl Sandburg, Ezra Pound and Mark Twain, to name a very few, were self-published as well. 

In some cases you could have a publisher/distributor but no money for printing like in the case of Henry Miller who needed Anaïs Nin to finance the printing of Tropic of Cancer.

Therefore, if you're having a hard time finding an agent and/or publisher you may consider joining the ranks of some very well-known self-published novelists and poets


Saturday, May 23, 2015

Proust Recommends The Charming Bounce Back Technique




To be a charismatic conversationalist Cabane recommends in The Charisma Myth that one use the Bounce Back Technique. The idea of the technique is to keep the conversation on the other person because people will find you charismatic if you allow them to talk about themselves. Many people make the mistake of hijacking conversations. 

For example, if someone volunteers, "I went to L.A. for the weekend." 

Don't respond, "I went to L.A. about two weeks ago too. I went to visit my sister. There was so much smog there. And so much traffic. But we went to a really nice..."

It's better to respond with questions like, "Oh, how was it?" "Why did you go there?" "How 
long were you there?"

Here's The Bounce Back Technique:


  1. Answer a query with a fact
  2. Add a personal note
  3. Redirect the query back to the questioner
e.g.,:

Question: "So, where are you moving to?"
Response: "To the East Village.[Fact] I need a lot of noise outside of my window to concentrate. [Personal note] Do you need silence to write? [Redirect]

And Botton relates in How Proust Can Change Your Life that Proust suggests that to be a good friend, one must keep the conversation on the other person.



Proust was of the understanding that one shouldn't assume that others are interested in his interests but that one should ask questions to avoid boring the listener. 


To be tactful, Proust recommends that one look to please others in his conversations by having them elaborate on their interests. And that one should abdicate his interests. 


Proust even opined that, ironically, the best friends are those that scorn friendships. Botton interprets Proust's position by writing that people who scorn friendships:

  • have more realistic expectations of "friendships"
  • avoid talking at length about themselves because they would rather avoid placing their life's in the fleeting and superficial medium of conversations
  • feel that "friendships" are a means to learn about others - not lecture
  • appreciate other's susceptibilities; thus, they feel that there is a need to show false amiability


Therefore, to be charming, tactful and a good "friend", one should use the Bound Back Technique in conversations. 







Thursday, May 21, 2015

Write for Pleasure, Publish for Money

Lolita and Mr. Girodias
by Vladimir Nabokov


According to Nabokov, Mr. Girodias of Olympia Press agreed to pay him "an advance of 400,000 "anciens" francs (about a thousand dollars)" for Lolita. The first half of the advance was one month late, but after Nabokov grew impatient waiting for the second half, he wrote to Mr. Girodias, "I write for my pleasure, but publish for money." (Evergreen Review)