10 Masters of the Novel
If an amateur photographer worries about equipment, a professional about budget, and a master about light–it could be said of novelists–that an amateur frets about fame, professional about book sales, and a master with the search for truth.
*Process* begins a series on “10 Masters of the Novel,” to shed a glimmer of light on that delicious quandary–What makes a master? A good writer may be adept, specific, intelligent, rich, lyrical, pared back, transparent, acessible and so on. But this is the writing. What about the writer? Masters have what aspects of character in common? A Master perseveres, measures time in decades and progress in terms of moral development. In reviewing the Top Ten Masters of the Novel, these attributes seem to be among them all:
1. originality
2. humility
3. courage
ORIGINALITY - call it reason, insight or experience. It’s the capacity to say things new. Think of Leo Tolstoy’s capacity for observing human nature, or Ernest Hemingway’s capacity for observational detail. Some writers synthesize information–Alexis de Toqueville in Democracy in America or Thomas Mann in his novels of intellectual adventure such as The Magic Mountain. Masters seeks new angles, a bold style or curiosity in form. But there are limits to newness. The Masters pay heed to their predecessors, which leads to the next attribute of their character.
HUMILITY - modesty, moderation or self-control. The perennial novelist is a hard drinking, womanizer, or in the case of female writers, a passionate feminist. Is that correct? According to Flaubert’s admonition: “Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work,” a Master is concerned first with his own character to imbue his work with moral authority. The masters eschews publicity and embrace independence. They give due to their predecessors and praise their contemporaries. They don’t retreat from society like JD Salinger but are rather like David Eggers, who turned quick fame into a literary society and published the work of other young writers. The Masters heed Cicero’s advice to be “a good man yourself and then seek others like you.” The master has a gentle humility and a quiet self-deprecation, especially in old age, like the loquacious Samuel Clemens. Humility makes a small man great, which leads to number the next attribute of character.
COURAGE - the masters take risks and they fail often. In contrast to painters whose entire corpus could be surveyed in ten minutes from a large coffee table book, very little of what a writer produces will ever be read. Think of your favorite writer. What percentage have you seen? Think of all the notes, letters, corrections, drafts, and so on a writer puts to paper. Since so little will ever be read, Masters must persevere and press forward. Some are attacked, or killed for their ideas. The moral fiber of the Argentinian Rudolpho Walsh, or the publishing consistency of a young William Styron, or the raw unadulterated struggle of Mikhail Bulgakov, who wrote Master and Margarita from memory after it burned, these are what the Masters have in common
“Top Ten Masters of the Novel” will be released once a month. When complete they will be collected on one page. They are selected in advance, so honorable mention can go to James Joyce, for linguistic invention, Umberto Eco for fiction as a platform for sholastic discussion, and Willie Collins for writing novels that freely cross genre. The list is my own and reflects a preference for writers who 1. like to travel 2. identify as journalists 3. seek the truth 4. are quite singular and 5. who span language and culture.
IN DESCENDING RANK ORDER:
