Comments on: Deathray on Headless: it’s Clever, Unfortunately

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Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:43:59 +0000

[...] expecting high literary values. I nearly said “I expect it’ll be clever”, but I know that annoys him [...]

By: AdamR

AdamR — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:09:22 +0000

Isabella; that's a very interesting observation. I need to think about it.

I have read similar criticisms of Nabokov; which is, sadly for me, neither to compare myself with Nabokov, nor to excuse the practice.

By: Isabella

Isabella — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:22:58 +0000

I think the problem with all of Adam,s work is detachment. When writing one presumably becomes oblivious to oneself and immersed in characters, plot, etc. This does not seem to be the case with Adam; when reading he always appears to be looking over my shoulder, asking for validation. Maybe a truly gifted writer is one who is invisible to the reader because he has lost himself amongst his own characters as has the reader.

By: AdamR

AdamR — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:08:55 +0000

Peter ... apologies: your comments were stuck in moderation whilst I was away on my holidays. But thank you for your kind words!

By: Birgit Kraus

Birgit Kraus — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:49:48 +0000

I said “trees”, not trees; I wonder whether Land of the Headless might have hollow people without any feelings. I use “tree” for anything that is alive, having no better word for that. No happy pills, no.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Adam, being one of his former (visiting) students, and I like his writing too. His novels are clever, which is a good thing. But it is a matter of fact that part of his readership have a certain problem with his style of writing, and I’d be very careful with calling them all idiots.
I’ve tried to explain to Adam, personally and in detail, what might be improved about his writing. In short one might say that his novels lack subjectivity. Well, sometimes, as I’ve said; nowadays less so than before.

Adam, you’ve got a few days of your holidays left; why not practise a little alternative “reading” ... Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books ...
Your little vernal daughter “tree” will teach you more of man ... than Nietzsche ever can.
Also remember Joseph Kugelmass about intelligence.

But be assured that I’m one of Adam’s greatest fans ever.
“Car si l’intelligence ne mérite pas la couronne suprême, c’est elle seule qui est capable de la décerner. Et si elle n’a dans l’hiérarchie des vertus que la seconde place, il n’y a qu’elle qui soit capable de proclamer que l’instinct doit occuper la première.” (Marcel Proust, “Contre Sainte-Beuve”)

By: AdamR

AdamR — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:37:34 +0000

Thanks, Octavo.

Birgit -- no; there are no trees in "Headless". It's all desert landscapes, I'm afraid.

By: Octavo

Octavo — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:51:28 +0000

Been at the happy pills again Birgit?

The reviewer's an idiot. There's nothing wrong with a clever novel - I actually like clever novels and find I much prefer them to stupid ones. The danger, however, comes when a novel tries too hard to be clever just for the sake of being clever, or so that the novelist can show everyone how clever he is at cocktail parties (Will Self, I'm looking at you...).

Your writing, however, is clever because you obviously respect your readers and because you actually seem to enjoy putting together an intricately crafted story with a satisfying conclusion.

By: Peter Hughes

Peter Hughes — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 20:28:10 +0000

I'd also like to add that no book can be 'too clever', least of all yours. Of course, I'm sure that Headless is, er... 'intellectually stimulating', but I'd view that as more of a positive comment. Each to his own...

By: Peter Hughes

Peter Hughes — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 20:24:37 +0000

There's nothing wrong with a good closet. A largely under-rated device, there aren't enough of them now-a-days. Who knows what the closet of the future might be like?

But, moving on to the topic at hand, I must say Mr Roberts that I eagerly await reading this new book. Having just found and finished Gradisil (far, far too late) I'm looking forward to your next novel. Granted, this message seems to be purely devoted to praise, but I nevertheless find myself inclined to say that your prose is remarkably refreshing compared to other, more 'traditional' science fiction and is remarkably stimulating. Sort of.

High praise indeed from a 16 year old :p

By: Birgit Kraus

Birgit Kraus — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:16:07 +0000

Or is it that you like closet trees? Self-less hollow closet trees ... I haven’t read Land of the Headless ...
Is it a land of unfeeling “self”-less closet “trees”? Probably.

By: Birgit Kraus

Birgit Kraus — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:19:17 +0000

Beautiful closets, I mean, twenty feet high. It is just that, sometimes, I would like to get less closet, more tree. A twenty-foot rainbow-coloured spacecraft Tree ... for me.
Or whatever your very own “self-some” (subjective) “tree” tastes may be.

By: Birgit Kraus

Birgit Kraus — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:50:13 +0000

“If you hired a carpenter to build you a walk-in closet, and he instead built you a twenty-foot contorted wooden sculpture in the garden ‘because the muse told him to’, you’d be pretty annoyed with him. Writing’s not so different.”
Are you sure? That writing is a craft and not an art?
It seems to me that people buying a piece of (science) fiction might want a work of art (with some spacecraft, maybe). As far as I can see the closet-sculpture problem is exactly the problem you have, only the other way around. You build closets. Your work is fine, on a rational level; it is ideo-logically good, done “cleverly”. But it (sometimes) lacks vitality, “feeling”, authenticity.
“[…] the actual process of writing for me is an elaborate process of self-distraction”.
Considering the way you write, you do a good job anyway. But people want the sculpture, not the closet.
Though some can recognise a good closet too.