Althouse: "I can’t fathom writers married to writers and musicians married to musicians."

October 20, 2012

"I can’t fathom writers married to writers and musicians married to musicians."

"There’s your enemy in bed beside you."

30 comments:

bagoh20 said...: It could be worse - you could be a pair of Praying Mantises or a lawyers.; 10/20/12, 11:36 AM
YoungHegelian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/20/12, 11:38 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Artists are interesting when they're doing their art. Otherwise, not so much. That's a great disappointment until you understand there really is a limit to what you can expect of your fellow humans, and just be grateful that there are artists at all.

It looks to me like Mr. Boyle is really a private type and he has his schtick to get him through interviews and book tours he'd rather not do. If you think he's an extrovert, do you really think a marriage between a true extrovert & the introverted woman he describes could last? I don't.; 10/20/12, 11:39 AM
wyo sis said...: What a strange view of the world.
I think he pushed the boundaries so far that he went over the edge.
Other artists as enemies? Why?; 10/20/12, 11:39 AM
madAsHell said...: What a dweeb!!

Everyone knows that you wear green tennis shoes with the gold sports jacket!!; 10/20/12, 11:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Imminently doomed? What sort of time frame are we talking?

In “A Friend of the Earth,” I projected 2025 for the effects of global warming to really disturb us, but I should have cut that by 10 years. It’s so depressing. You read any environmentalist — there’s not a breath of hope for our species.

TC Boyle is being careless here. Already a fair number of climate scientists/environmentalists are starting to hedge their bets on global warming. It was a big clue when they changed the label to "climate change."

I can't read contemporary authors anymore. Just about all of them keep saying stupid things like this in their writing and their interviews.

Boyle was probably all on board with Occupy last year.; 10/20/12, 11:43 AM
AHL said...: My fiance and I are musicians. I play oboe and he plays tuba. It would be difficult to both find performance work if we both played oboe, and impossible if we both played tuba. Thankfully*, he also has a math ed degree and wants to perform on the side.

*However, he's hardcore teacher union. Ugh. I will change that. With time.; 10/20/12, 11:45 AM
MisterBuddwing said...: I've always thought it charming when a husband and wife have careers that overlap in some way - it gives them something extra in common, and can result in them constantly helping each other out.

But a situation in which the spouses are effectively competing with each other directly - not so much.; 10/20/12, 11:50 AM
bearing said...: How about engineers married to engineers? Is that okay?; 10/20/12, 11:55 AM
Sydney said...: I've always thought artists married to artists have it tougher. Their egos are more tied up in their work than the rest of us - say doctors married to doctors or engineers married to engineers, etc. I heard an interview once with Bruce Springsteen's wife in which the interviewer asked her if she ever asked Bruce for help with her songs. She cut him off with a very cold "No." And I believe Ronald Reagan attributed his divorce from Jane Wyman to her professional success. He was jealous of it. I have also heard Matthew Brodderick refer to his professional jealously of his wife in interviews.

Everything is great when they are both successful, not so much when one out succeeds the other.; 10/20/12, 12:21 PM
bandmeeting said...: Kool. Zero sum.; 10/20/12, 12:34 PM
BaltoHvar said...: As a musician, competition is a great motivator. I suppose as an artist in general this holds true. We Brothers growing up together were always competing, and our craft improved. Plus, there were times that tables turned, and mentoring occurred. Decades later, we still love our "art" and each other.; 10/20/12, 12:37 PM
YoungHegelian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/20/12, 12:39 PM
jimbino said...: Sounds like a good country song:

"I sang harmony with the enemy in the bed beside me, though my pickup was gone and I still felt alone...."; 10/20/12, 12:48 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @sydney,

Everything is great when they are both successful, not so much when one out succeeds the other.

Hey, wait! Didn't they do a show about that?

Three times at least. Four if you count the national Lampoon parody "A Star is Porn" (don't ask).; 10/20/12, 12:49 PM
ricpic said...: Other artists as enemies? Why?

Competition.; 10/20/12, 1:06 PM
sakredkow said...: I read Water Music years ago. It seemed good but who can keep up with the contemporary novelists?; 10/20/12, 1:18 PM
edutcher said...: No, you always have someone next to you who knows exactly what you're going through when things aren't working.; 10/20/12, 1:42 PM
Emil Blatz said...: INTERVIEW HAS BEEN CONDENSED AND EDITED

Yes, but not enough.; 10/20/12, 2:00 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: I'm a writer and musician married to a writer and musician. Believe me, it's possible. At the absolute worst, you always have something to talk about.; 10/20/12, 2:09 PM
Anonymous said...: I like Boyle's work, particularly "Water Music." I do not expect contemporary fiction writers to be anything but leftist in their political views. Witness the outrage when Mamet left the plantation.

When I was younger, and found the whole 1920's "Lost Generation" crowd much more interesting than I do now, I read more than a few biographies of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Parker, Joyce,etc. I came away convinced that writers are an spectacularly ungenerous and vicious bunch when it comes to other writers.; 10/20/12, 2:12 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I'm married to an artist. I can't imagine what it would be like if we we both did what he did and were on active projects at the same time. Not an enemy issue but an intensity issue. Writing can be pretty all-consuming.; 10/20/12, 3:07 PM
BaltoHvar said...: I understand the distinction in Mr. Boyles POV. He's married to a non-artist.

But Art is rife with products mined from the thick vein of collaboration. Music especially benefits from the division of labor. Writing I think is less conducive to that, and the canvass arts, too. But then again there is a Church in Italy that is the epitome of artistic expression that was created by an artist, but executed by a group under his leadership.; 10/20/12, 3:46 PM
traditionalguy said...: Other than science articles, writers are in essence saying look at me... I am the worthy one for your attention who will disclose me and myself to you.

Two of those personalities types are likely to clash.; 10/20/12, 6:20 PM
D. B. Light said...: According to some feminists, unless you are in a same-sex relationship you are always sleeping with the enemy.; 10/20/12, 8:31 PM
David said...: Uh-oh.

My son and his fiancee are artists.

Should I warn them?; 10/20/12, 9:02 PM
Synova said...: Other writers or other musicians are only your enemy if you believe that there is a finite pie.; 10/21/12, 12:04 AM
Derve Swanson said...: Plus, there's always the grandchildren to busy oneself with...; 10/21/12, 8:48 AM
Derve Swanson said...: Lol -- women can sometimes marry a "protector" from the lesser classes too.

If you get one who's been broken in by a wife elsewhere, he might even be capable of cooking a decent breakfast.

"Hi sweety meaty, you garlic-breath potato you."; 10/21/12, 8:50 AM
Derve Swanson said...: Oh, my first comment must not have posted:

Freeman is right, Dustbunny.
If an artist or other professional has a helpmeet taking care of the daily chores -- cooking, cleaning, laundry -- they are freer to create.

Often this helpmate role falls to the woman, who is able to "create" new life and find her identity through motherhood. It's a myth that this seemingly lesser ambitious path leave such a woman ultimately dissatisfied. Many are not interested in college, or pursuing their interests beyond their children's interests. Plus, a woman immersed in her children's childhood often remains very healthy and happy herself. Think Rose Kennedy.

When the children grow and no longer need her daily minstrations, there's always the grandchildren.; 10/21/12, 8:55 AM