Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

It appears that Percival Everett is a name to be reckoned with in American letters today. His latest book is a collection of short stories called Half an Inch of Water, but he is better known for his novels, such as Erasure (2001). The November issue of Harper's included what is in format a review of Half an Inch , but what is in substance a general appreciation of Everett's body of work. The appreciator is Justin Taylor, the author of three books of fiction of his own. Since this well-written essay is the first time (to my knowledge anyway) that I've even come across Everett's name, I'm in no position to make judgments. I'll simply quote Taylor without further comment or ado. "He rarely does publicity, doesn't write reviews, and doesn't read reviews of his own work; he is probably not coming soon to a bookstore near you. His novels tend to be both choppy and dense, with chapters broken up into one or two page scenes that are riven with p...

The following comes from the recent biography of the great novelist, John Updike, written by Adam Begley: Among the other twentieth-century American writers who made a splash before their thirtieth birthday (the list includes Upton Sinclair, Ernest Hemingway, John O'Hara, William Saroyan, Norman Mailer, Flannery O'Connor, William Styron, Gore Vidal, Harold Brodkey, Philip Roth and Thomas Pynchon), none piled up accomplishments in as orderly a fashion as Updike, or with as little fuss....He wasn't despairing or thwarted or resentful; he wasn't alienated or conflicted or drunk; he quarreled with no one. In short, he cultivated none of the professional deformations that habitually plague American writers. even his neuroses were tame.