Comments on: TNY weekend reader: the “real” thing

By: Maria

Maria — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:00:43 +0000

I only know of cuckoo clocks made in the Black Forest, which is in Germany. (And in the Far East, of course…)

By: David Pomerantz

David Pomerantz — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:01:54 +0000

Hi Carolita:

Re: Third Man/ Switzerland reference. I don’t know if any New Yorker fact checker caught this, or even cared, but Welles said in a long-ago interview that the Swiss never made cuckoo clocks-they are made in Austria, at least at the time he wrote and filmed his speech for the Carol Reed film, one of my favorites.

By: NYkette

NYkette — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:44:24 +0000

Exactly! I think Sedaris is a good writer, and should bank on his writing skills more than on coming up with whacky exploits. All his previous whackiness came naturally and led to the stories. I realize a lot of people think they need to be miserable or in financial hardship in order to be creative, but I think that’s bunk. That’s like saying life doesn’t provide enough problems, and that you can actually run out of them and need to go shopping for more!

By: zp

zp — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:19:08 +0000

Just so; people are always asking “which one’s the man,” period. And it is so tiresome.

When I say “I love serious Sedaris” it has nothing to do with a person, everything to do with serious themes handled Sedaris-style . . . and I would never imagine that you had anything personal against any stunts a writer might or might not pull.

It’s odd though, I laughed the hardest at “hardscrabble pioneer woman” and the bit about, I think, milling one’s own flour or whatever. A writer wouldn’t have to pull any stunts for these allusions (to real or fictional or metaphoric figures/actions) to be funny . . .

By: NYkette

NYkette — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 01:49:47 +0000

I may have updated, since a phrase like “yellow vase water” might have bothered me upon rereading (water from a yellow vase? or yellow water from a vase?). I reserve the right to update at will, just so you know! That’s the joy of blogging.

I love Sedaris, but I think he’s pushing it lately. For some reason he feels obliged to be more outrageous than he apparently is. There’s nothing wrong with domestic bliss, even if “happy love has no story”, and we all know it takes a mature writer to be able to continue being interesting when s/he’s happy. I think he’s in transition. So if he wants to make himself ill drinking water from a vase so he can say he did it, for a laugh, I don’t think it’s a crime! I’m just not going to stand by and not say something! Perhaps for his own good! And of course, I don’t have to dislike someone in order to have issue with something they wrote. (I received my literary education in France, not in the land of “you’re with me or against me”!)

I think it’s time to import a bit of that kind of magnanimous attitude.

And hey, people ask that “which one’s the man” of heterosexual couples all the time without realizing it. We’re all idiots in that respect. It’s a rare bird that isn’t. It’s equal opportunity bigotry, really!

By: zp

zp — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 18:29:57 +0000

I could have sworn I spent a few disoriented hours, early Saturday evening, in between reading about “yellow vase water” and reading my (lately arrived) issue and realizing it was yellow water from a vase of unspecified color. Where did I see that? Yellow vase water? Did you update this?

Again, I love serious Sedaris. Pyncheon’s Against the Day feels like sitting in the houses of people who want to to know “Which one’s the man?” Ug, ug, ug.