"I woke up thinking a very pleasant thought. There is lots left in the world to read."
So says the endearing narrator of Nicholson Baker's The Anthologist, Paul Chowder, an occasionally published poet who's suffering from a bad case of writer's block when trying to write, of all things, the introduction to an anthology of rhyming poems. Of course there's plenty to distract him: he's in debt; his girlfriend has left him; and the task of justifying rhyming poetry feels a bit overwhelming.
And part of Chowder's problem is his fierce passion about poetry itself:
"One thing I really like about books of poems is that you can open them anywhere and you're at a beginning. If I open a biography, or a memoir, or a novel, when I open it in the middle, which is what I usually do, I'm really in the middle. What I want is to be as much as possible at the beginning. And that's what poetry gives me. Many many beginnings. That feeling of setting forth."
This is a wild, fun ride, an exploration of poetry from someone who's passionate but not in the least pedantic, someone who's frustrated with his personal life and perceived failures in terms of literary success, someone who's got a wonderfully wry sense of humor about the path his life has taken.
If you don't know much about poetry and poets, you'll learn a lot, and in a very conversational, non-academic way. This book is as much about the history of poetry as it is about Chowder's writing block, and you'll have far more fun than reading most any handbook or history. Not much actually happens in the book, but that's not the point--the point is for Chowder to work his way through his personal demons and ground himself in the most important thing in the world: his love of poetry. He's hilariously aware of pop culture, comparing anthologists to Heidi Klum, "that blond bitch-goddess on Project Runway."
By book's end, I felt much more knowledgeable about poetry without having been condescended to, and I felt like I'd had a wonderful time hanging out with a sometimes-exasperating but always entertaining friend. What more can you ask of a reading experience than that?
This book is also a finalist in the upcoming Tournament of Books, where it's first bracketed against the critically acclaimed Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. Two very different books--how to call that contest?? But that's a big part of the fun of the ToB. I'd take The Anthologist over Everything Ravaged, but I suspect the outcome will go the other way, since the competitor is taking on "bigger" topics. But really, is there anything bigger than poetry?
