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A review by nathansnook
The Importance of Being Iceland: Travel Essays in Art by Eileen Myles
informative
3.0
halfway through the book, i realized that i like the way they think, but i don't like the way they write. in interviews, in poetry readings, there's a voice, a presence that is required in consumption of their work, but their writing, alone, is better kept in their private diaries.
to call these essays would be too generous. ideas go in one direction and become something else entirely. with a friend over coffee, this, i wouldn't mind at all, but in a format like this, it left me empty. you see, Eileen has incredible observations, perfect adj+subj combos, but nothing else. maybe a few paragraphs after these sporadic strokes of brilliance are met with a beautiful open passage that runs free, free enough that everything expands and hits the heart, much like this:
"this is my exhortation, my recipe for the lesbian brain. you're living in it. you're reading it here. bodies and books, all our gestures, large boring gatherings and small strange meetings, sexual encounters, splashes of light across our faces and bodies in apartments, art on the wall, tapes on the screens, words out loud. these are the elements, ingredients, a recipe for the lesbian brain, the sky overhead, the endless night and the food we eat, the way we dress, everything that shows, a radiant secrecy, the whole aching collection, the gamut of us. it's the living upside of our notorious invisibility. our virtual intelligence as we put it out. the indestructible ghetto."
but these come far and few in between. we do get incredible glances at Alex Katz, slander on David Sedaris, and much love for Jenny Holzer. even a talk with Daniel Day Lewis! there's a lot to love here when roaming through Eileen's brain. but the collection itself feels unedited, many ideas left dry and deflated with very little meat unless you're a mega-Myles fan.
to call these essays would be too generous. ideas go in one direction and become something else entirely. with a friend over coffee, this, i wouldn't mind at all, but in a format like this, it left me empty. you see, Eileen has incredible observations, perfect adj+subj combos, but nothing else. maybe a few paragraphs after these sporadic strokes of brilliance are met with a beautiful open passage that runs free, free enough that everything expands and hits the heart, much like this:
"this is my exhortation, my recipe for the lesbian brain. you're living in it. you're reading it here. bodies and books, all our gestures, large boring gatherings and small strange meetings, sexual encounters, splashes of light across our faces and bodies in apartments, art on the wall, tapes on the screens, words out loud. these are the elements, ingredients, a recipe for the lesbian brain, the sky overhead, the endless night and the food we eat, the way we dress, everything that shows, a radiant secrecy, the whole aching collection, the gamut of us. it's the living upside of our notorious invisibility. our virtual intelligence as we put it out. the indestructible ghetto."
but these come far and few in between. we do get incredible glances at Alex Katz, slander on David Sedaris, and much love for Jenny Holzer. even a talk with Daniel Day Lewis! there's a lot to love here when roaming through Eileen's brain. but the collection itself feels unedited, many ideas left dry and deflated with very little meat unless you're a mega-Myles fan.