{"id":2794,"date":"2009-12-13T00:01:01","date_gmt":"2009-12-13T04:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/?p=2794"},"modified":"2019-01-25T18:15:26","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T22:15:26","slug":"the-paris-review-interviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/2009\/12\/13\/the-paris-review-interviews\/","title":{"rendered":"The Paris Review Interviews"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Paris Review Interviews, I<\/strong><\/em><\/span>\u00a0(2006, 528 pp)<\/span>
\nThe Paris Review Interviews, II<\/strong><\/em><\/span> (2007, 528 pp) <\/span>
\nThe Paris Review Interviews, III<\/strong><\/em><\/span> (2008,\u00a0464 pp) <\/span>
\nThe Paris Review Interviews, IV<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (2009,\u00a0478 pp) <\/span>
\nPicador<\/span><\/p><\/h3><\/div>

\"The-Paris-Review-Interviews\"<\/p>\n

I’m not in front of the curve on reviewing the fantastic The Paris Review Interviews<\/em> volumes, but while I’m highlighting books that you may want to buy others (or may want others to buy for you), I couldn’t help but remind everyone of these gems.\u00a0If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, I highly recommend it.\u00a0Even if you’ve\u00a0discovered that you can get many —\u00a0but not all<\/em> — of these interviews for free on The Paris Review<\/em> website<\/a>,\u00a0it’s not the same as having these great volumes on the shelf where they can soak in your veneration for years.\u00a0Volume IV came out a little over a month ago (I thought they were stopping at three — thank goodness I was wrong), and it’s proved to be just as interesting and fun to read as the previous three volumes.\u00a0Now you can get all four volumes in a box set, though that might prove problematic if they put out a Volume V next year.<\/p>\n

Each volume contains the original interviews published in The Paris Review <\/em>of 16 luminaries of arts and letter (the art of fiction, poetry, criticism, screenwriting, even the musical) spanning the magazine’s life. Consequently, we have special access to the minds of various literary eras, from Dorothy Parker and T.S. Eliot to Martin Amis and Peter Carey to Richard Price. There is also a variety of styles, from Ernest Hemingway to Kurt Vonnegut to Salman Rushdie to Stephen King.<\/p>\n

But perhaps my favorite aspect of these interviews (besides the opportunity to hear the voices behin<\/p>\n

d the works) is to see where the artist stood when the interview was given.\u00a0We get Hemingway nearing the end of his career in 1958, Eliot in 1959, Waugh in 1963, Wodehouse in 1975, Baldwin in 1984, Wilder in 1996.\u00a0Others we get around their prime: Greene in 1953, Bellow in 1966, Morrison in 1993. There are even a few at their relative beginning, when so much more was to come (or not, as is the case in one of these): Ellison in 1955, Capote in 1957, Pinter in 1966.\u00a0Hearing their thoughts from that moment in time, let alone being privy to their writing philosophies and idiosyncrasies, makes these fascinating reading. I list below the volumes, the interviewees, and the years in which each interview was taken.<\/p>\n

Volume I:<\/p>\n