On Memoirs

 Clifton Fadiman sounds insufferable. He was a misogynist. He informed his daughter of his extramarital affairs by saying, to her, "I've just had a stroke. There are some women I want you to call. Share the news. Don't ask any questions. Here's the list."

Fadiman also struggled to cope with daily life. When his wife/servant had a health episode, Fadiman (reasonably) chose to drive his daughter to a restaurant for dinner--and he immediately crashed the car.

On the other hand, Fadiman was a revered critic for "The New Yorker"--he was brave enough to say that Faulkner was for masochists. Fadiman launched his own career by inventing 100 good ideas for book proposals--handing the list to a friend in publishing--and worming his way into a Manhattan editorial department. Additionally, he edited "Cricket" Magazine and did a high-profile translation of Nietzsche.

None of this really matters--what matters is that Clifton is the father of Anne Fadiman, one of the greatest living writers in the U.S. Anne Fadiman's first book is now a classic; her mid-career essay collection, "Ex Libris," is (also) a classic. I think Anne Fadiman chose to be very, very broad-minded about her father--if she was just going to judge him severely for 200 pages, she would have churned out a memoir that seemed pedestrian. 

Fadiman writes incisively about everything--her father's attempts to run away from his own Jewish heritage, her understanding of how blind people adapt to the world, her questions about "supertasters," her interest in literary careers, her curiosity about death. I think that Fadiman must make a list of things that seem compelling--and then she just decides to dig into the list. She is like an alien--no one besides Anne Fadiman would think deeply about counting the papillae on the tongue. (In childhood, Fadiman tried to write an advertising jingle with reference to the "papillae." But she stressed the first syllable, when the right pronunciation is, I guess, puh-PI-llae. This might seem unimportant, but Fadiman makes you sense its importance. You feel her sense of wonder.)

I really liked "The Wine Lover's Daughter." I'd recommend any book of Anne Fadiman's. I hope there will be more.