Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Nan Graham on Ann Beattie: "She Didn't Die"

Although her books aren't exactly the liveliest titles on LINKcat library shelves.
 The LINKcat tally
(With 49 library locations) 

Link to June 8 New York Times article, "A Reliving of a Time of Fame".

Excerpt:   Now 62, Ms. Beattie continues to write, and her characters, or many of them, have aged along with her: they have mortgages, children, divorces. She has published seven novels and eight collections of stories so far, and her newest book, her first in five years, a novella called “Walks With Men,” comes out from Scribner on Tuesday.

And yet, while not unknown, exactly, Ms. Beattie is hardly a household name anymore. When she is introduced at parties, she said recently, people sometimes ask, “Should I know who you are?” Just recently someone whipped out an iPhone and Googled her name while Ms. Beattie watched
.

Link to Jay McInerney's review of Walk With Men.

Retiring Guy clearly remembers the critical buzz that settled over Beattie for awhile during the mid-1970s.  He read a few of her stories -- don't ask for titles -- and became neither a fan nor detractor.  Favorite author who started writing in the 1970s:  Richard Price.

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