Forty-one False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers

Malcolm is a consistently illuminating writer. The title essay is famously great, an essay that uses formal invention to address its subject more effectively than descriptive writing alone could. While the title essay is justly praised, similarly compelling narratives fill the book. The unfortunately titled 'Girl of the Zeitgeist' is a phenomenal multi-perspective view of Ingrid Sischy when she was the editor-in-chief of Artforum, for example.While some details in some of the pieces can come across as dated, a common problem for magazine writing (same issue for some of the pieces in 'Against Interpretation' for example) but that is hardly a criticism.

I like reading about the art world and creativity and even if I didn't I would like to read what Janet Malcolm Writes about it. It was a nice surprise to find that one of the players in her art world drama had gone to my high school in Cincinnati and I always wondered what happened to him. The role of esoteric art critic in New York City seems to be a natural extension of who he was as an outspoken, rebellious student in an elite, college preparatory high school in the Midwest. I also find it interesting when anybody can make some sense out of the mishmash of what I view as the New York City art world. I believe Tom Wolfe is correct when he said that the word makes the message in the art world. It is not what you see is what you get it is what you see is formed by the art critic you are listening to about that piece of artwork.

I mostly know Janet Malcolm from reading (some of) her essays in the New York Review of Books and the New Yorker. And truth be told, the only one I remembered was the essay that became the book Iphigenia in Forest Hills. In short, I frankly bought this on pedigree and vague memories of good writing, a bad premise.So I put this book down after the first 5 essays, 2 on artists, 3 on writers. The first one, which gives the book its title, was entertaining, but she clearly got carried away with the *notion* of her essay (the 41 false starts reflecting on and relating to Salle's work), to the ultimate expense of her actual subject. The second, on Struth, gave me some hope as it was actually pretty good, albeit on an artist I know nothing about.Her writing on writers was all strikeouts for me: she doesn't get Wharton at all, her Woolf/Bloomsbury piece wasn't much more than an abbreviated biography, and her Salinger piece was momentously uninsightful.So I had to put this down. If there's a theme here, it's that Malcolm gets entranced with some idea or notion and, with that idea in hand, is as likely as not to misread her subject, or to forget them, or occasionally to notice something about them. Unfortunately, that last option just wasn't happening often enough.

How many books do you read in which each sentence is worth reading? This is one. I came back to the book each evening knowing that I would be treated to an inquiring mind at work. I imagine it will be re-read many times. As Nabokov allegedly said, there are no good readers, only good re-readers. Ms. Malcolm may make me one of Mr. Nabokov's good readers yet! Every time I finish a book by Janet Malcolm, I say: Thank you, Janet.

I got bogged down in the VERY long essay about Artforum magazine, and I don't agree with Malcolm's enthusiasm for J.D. Salinger's writing (he's got a very narrow focus and his characters are really more petulant than anything else). But the David Salle piece which opens the collection (and furnishes its title) is a masterpiece.She also skillfully demolished the blowsy excess of the catalog of the SanFrancisco Art Museum's Diane Arbus exhibit, making the point that learning every last jot of trivia about a person does not contribute to understanding them. I will remember this line forever: "What Helen of Troy did in her spare time, and what she was "really like" as a person, are not questions that torture us."

Not as fine as a number of her other works, especially in the early chapters. I'd give it 3 and 1\2 stars.

I love Janet Malcolm's work, just about every word of it, so I am unqualified to review this book. To me, reading each piece was like eating exquisite dark chocolate, superb smoked salmon, and so on: fill in the blanks with your own cherished tasty treats. I'm sorry, I just can't be objective about Janet Malcolm. But I can tell you which is my favorite: her write-up on the collection of characters (art historians, art critics, editors, and artists) who shed light on the enigma of _Artforum_ magazine in the 1980s. That may sound arcane to you, but for me, it's riveting material. She even makes Bloomsbury freshly interesting! Enough said.

Some people have complained here that these essays have appeared elsewhere and therefore are not "new." The truth is, most essay collections have work in them that has appeared elsewhere. That doesn't prevent this from being a riveting read. Even the ones I've read before, like the title essay, surprised me all over again. Janet Malcolm is a brilliant thinker, a cool and clear-eyed journalist, and a beautiful writer. All it takes is one paragraph before you know you're in the thrall of an authoritative, interesting voice and mind.

Insightful and beautifully written. The ideal book to dip in and out of when in need of intellectual inspiration.

A good read. Not all the pieces are at the same level. But there is almost none that one wouldn't enjoy!

Janet Malcolm works on the border beween journalism and novel-writing. In a series of portraits devoted to artists she has met or she empathizes with, she proceeds with light touches like Turner or Matisse, bringing subtle variations around the same theme. The object of her study is then constructed, or most of the time deconstructed, in a very original way and the portrait that emerges is made of seemingly ureconcilable traits that mix into a sort of moving photographic image.All in all, a powerfully distinctive and very entertainig literary experience.

LOVE Ms Malcolm's words, in such excellent order.

Janet Malcolm gives the reader a close connection with those she interviews and skillfully includes a nudge hear and there to bring the famous down to earth.Taken with the right amount of cynicism we are given good insight into the lives of these artists and writers. Some useful hints emerge for those wanting to build their craft.