But he was really good in ‘Pineapple Express’
Nobody publishes short story collections, right?
Wrong! Those of us who whine about this – count me among us – have been officially proven wrong by the following news: Scribners will publish a debut collection by James Franco this fall. Title: Palo Alto.
Not that Franco
This is great for the form. Just when it seemed that no one really cared about us and our toil, we learn that in fact people do care about us and our toil. They care a lot. Thank you, James Franco.
On the other hand, the news – well, it’s not really news, but I only recently found out about it – will surely prompt a cascade of derision among writers, especially those of us who have been so far scorned by Scribners. But I don’t know. While I can get onboard with jealousy and self-pity as much as the next guy, and while it does seem patently unfair that a famous, good-looking actor gets a book deal, while I, unrecognized genius that I am, apparently can’t even bribe a goddam publisher – wait, what was I saying?
Oh, right. It was that we shouldn’t get all worried about James Franco and his undeserved book deal. Let the man write short stories if he wants to. Writing short stories is good. Maybe he’ll provoke a renaissance of interest among publishers, and all we’ll have to do to flourish in that happy new day will be: 1) become much better looking; 2) get cast in Spider-Man 7; 3) write 200 pages worth of stories.
In any case, we ought not to judge him by his pretty face. Here is one of his stories, “Just Before the Black,” published in Esquire, of course. Some representative lines:
Joe has to think about it. He is large, and his weight spreads from his belly across the seat, like it was a plastic sack full of liquid, rolling in layers upon itself.
Joe sucks off his cigarette. It looks like the point of a golf tee in his fat, clenched paw.
I laugh like crazy, a laughter that bubbles out like popcorn…
I don’t know. I might not use the term “sucks off” like that. And his metaphors are awkward and inapt. And he seems not to have captured the grimy side of life that he’s after, and is mining a much-mined vein of loser fiction without anything really fresh to add. But I’ve written worse stories, and so, probably, has everyone who’s ever tried to write stories.
This assessment, from Entertainment Weekly, the bible of short-story criticism, feels right on to me:
Do I think James Franco has potential as a short story writer? I do. But there’s a particular affliction that affects especially the male authors of short fiction, a need to dirty everyone up, to make their characters just a little sicker and more slovenly and less redeemable than the societal average. Some would call this “walking the longest mile.” I just think it’s kinda lazy, means you feel the need to be graphic in order to get attention in workshop instead of just writing well about interesting things.
Here’s my question: Say you’re editing a literary journal and this shows up in the slush pile. Does the story make it to meeting? Does it make it into print? Are there any other actors you’d like to see publish a collection of short stories?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBRF910RFsM
It does feel faux-gritty, much like a recent collection about an Ohio town that I won’t name. And no, I wouldn’t bring the story to meeting. I probably wouldn’t finish it.
Franco is just finishing up an MFA degree at Columbia, and I wonder what kind of feedback he got in those workshops.
I do like him as an actor, but this really doesn’t seem like something worth reading. Who should write a book? Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, probably. Can you imagine? More Catholic imagery than you’ve ever seen, this side of Joyce.
Yeah, this is mediocre and derivative. So many of the lines are just bad:
“My window is cracked, just a bit, and the air plays on my forehead like a cold whisper.”
“The building is beige, but the shadows make it shadow-color.”
“I guess in some lives lived, no one tells you what to be, and so you be nothing.”
“Then you better die, mofucker, cuz I’m the king round these parts.”
It’s kind of embarrassing to read. Certainly embarrassing that it’s published in what used to be one of the best fiction magazines in the country. But that was a long time ago, and that magazine is nothing more than a celebrity rag now and a guide for how to get a haircut or buy wingtips.
And it’s not Franco’s fault that Scribner took the book. Whose fault is that, by the way? (I’m sure Scribner would have been interested in this collection no matter who wrote it.)
I don’t think too many magazines in the country — aside from Esquire — would have published this story. It feels like work from a very young, very green writer, who hasn’t found his voice. But, you know, and I’m not kidding, it’s not Franco’s fault. Is anyone telling him that the work’s not ready, that it’s mediocre? Or are they using him to sell books and magazines? Anyone else writing that story would have been rejected over and over, and would have kept working it and kept working other stuff. How’s this guy going to struggle and get better, if houses and magazines that shouldn’t be publishing him are?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by AmericanShortFiction, Willow Springs. Willow Springs said: today's theme on bark: famous people and their (crappy) writing: james franco http://bit.ly/9wP68E & tyra banks http://bit.ly/cbiuH1 [...]
i’d absolutely positively read any short-story collection penned by Christopher Walken…
Sam, I agree with all your points, but I would take one step back farther and ask how this guy got into a program at Columbia.
Dan, I felt exactly the same about the collection you’re not naming. Nothing could appear in any story without being “dirty,” “shabby,” “rusty,” etc. Though there were two stories in the middle that I thought were pretty good.
Shawn, I’d like to read a collection by… I was going to say Jason Robards, but it just occured to me that reading crappy fiction by an actor I like would cause me to like him less, and I don’t want to do that. So I’m going to say Bela Lugosi because I love him so much nothing he does could turn me against him.
I was going to say Crispin Glover, but I guess he’s self-published 15 to 20 books. I shouldn’t be surprised.
Guess I should cut “shadow-color” from my thesis.
i’d like to read John Malkovich’s short stories.
I’d like to read Steve Carel’s. Tina Fey is my other favorite actor, but I do not like her writing for 30 Rock. Would her stories be better?
When I was a kid, I was familiar with Franco-American first and when I learned about Francisco Franco in 5th grade or so, I thought he ran the company while also being the dictator of Spain.
I figured this out rather quickly, but in a perverse sort of way, I still like the image.
[...] Franco, author. [...]
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[...] Franco, meanwhile, is either some kind of super-artistic all-star or an insane egomaniac. He told Entertainment Weekly about his plans for the novels, and it shot around the Internet instantly, as does all Franco-related information. As I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, he’s starred on a soap opera, participated in performance art projects, spoofed his celebrity, published a book of short stories…. I won’t bother with the mass linkage this could entail, but will just offer three: A long New York magazine profile here; the hilarious blog What James Franco Did Today here; and my own weak-ass contribution from Bark about Franco’s short stories here. [...]
[...] how long ago that was. This year, I was a little shocked to see our buddy James Franco alongside Anne Hathaway–not a pair I could have foreseen, but I guess I’m a little out [...]
[...] see me in the audience for a while.) I would love to read your work and see it performed. You could follow James Franco and get your MFA, if you wanted (but, please, take it seriously if you [...]