Monday, May 15, 2006
Doug Brinkley Leprechaun Theory
I have a theory as to how Douglas Brinkley - the honorable Tulane University history professor - is such a book machine. I mean, seriously. Leprechauns. Obviously, Brinkley has hired the little green men to help him dash off three books in less than two years time - including his recent opus about Katrina, The Great Deluge, which clocks in at over 700 pages. The man is an insane page producing machine. OK, it's either leprechauns, or some mutant microchip embedded in his brain, something resembling the Dragon word-recognition software app - so that Brinkley can just produce text by thinking about it. How else to explain?
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If Douglas Brinkley is using leprechauns, what's your theory on Joyce Carol Oates? According to wikipedia, 43 novels (including 10 under 2 pseudonyms), 29 short story collections, 11 books of essays & criticism, 8 poetry collections, and a half dozen kid's books for good measure. Makes me tired just looking over the list. In addition to teaching and running a literary magazine. The rumor is that Oates is actually a committe of middle-aged men, but I'n not sure they could keep up that kind of output. She makes Brinkley look like a layabout.
If Douglas Brinkley is using leprechauns, what's your theory on Joyce Carol Oates? According to wikipedia, 43 novels (including 10 under 2 pseudonyms), 29 short story collections, 11 books of essays & criticism, 8 poetry collections, and a half dozen kid's books for good measure. Makes me tired just looking over the list. In addition to teaching and running a literary magazine. The rumor is that Oates is actually a committe of middle-aged men, but I'n not sure they could keep up that kind of output. She makes Brinkley look like a layabout.
when I was in college I was a manic student. Working constantly, and wholeheartedly inspired by what I was doing, I found it hard to sleep at night. One night after finally falling in bed at about one thirty am (and feeling fairly accomplished for the day) my phone rang and it was Doug Brinkley calling from his beach house in Mississippi.
Hunter S. Thompson had just left his house after steeling his car to take off with his girlfriend (a twenty two year old personal assistant to the sultan of Brunei). Brinkley was really excited about a myriad of books he was working on and made me feel completely guilty because he was he was in the midst of working on them AS WE SPOKE! I felt like a loser for sleeping!
Anyway, not to be too bummy but I now have a hideously banal office job and find myself exhausted at the end of the day-- I work in construction law litigation... just to illustrate. BUT Brinkley continues to produce... all through the night I am assuming. He is a really dynamic and idealistic person. Look who the crux of his work has concerned: Jack Keroac, Thompson, Rosa Parks, FDR... hardly anyone to yawn at. Plus I think that he really has a mission with his work which is to provide heros and people to emulate in the field of history. He isn't recounting World War II battles and tactics but he is chronicling the lives of warriors (just kidding-- I meant for that to sound cheesy-- but it's true!) Of course the irony here is that (okay more cheese)his dramatic work pace and noble mission have rendered him an inspiration! Talk about doing what you love...
Plus aside from that, I haven't seen him in a few years but he definitely subscribes to the work hard- party hard school & those people are always the most interesting.
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