The perfect anthology would include food
As I culled my bookshelves recently – supposedly getting rid of books I will never read or do not want, only to find that I almost never put any books in those categories – I was struck by how many anthologies I have.
Just think what he might have accomplished with two ears
There are the bricklike Nortons, of course – about 50, it seems, from my various forays into higher education. There are lots of similar textbook-ish anthologies – of modern poetry, of Western poetry, of existentialism, of “American letters,” of flash fiction, of this and that.
Then there are some themed anthologies, collections that seem to promise something stranger or more various.
You’ve Got to Read This: Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories That Held Them in Awe is one of those – a collection in which authors write essays about their favorite short stories, followed by their favorite short stories. So we get Tobias Wolff on Carver’s “Cathedral,” Eudora Welty on Chekhov’s “Gooseberries,” Mary Gordon on Joyce’s “The Dead,” T.C. Boyle on Barthelme’s “The School” …
I was surprised, flipping through the pages of this book, how unsurprising most of the selections were. Easily more than half of these would be familiar to anyone who took a lit class or two.
Looking through that book made me wish for something more unforeseen, and it made me think about the possibilities of the anthology – not as simply a march through a supposed canon, but as a highly personal, curated miscellany. What if you could create a true, free-form anthology, loosed from the bonds of media, genre, art form or categorization? An anthology that could include a song, a book, a painting, a movie, a T-shirt, a food, a favorite pet?
The anthology as collage. Or something.
So today’s online party game is this: Create your own 10-item anthology. Give it a name or theme. Anything can be included – anything at all, from Don Quixote to corn dogs.
I’ll do a couple to get us started.
The Miscreant
An anthology of crimes, lesser and greater, and punishment
Jesus Son, collection by Dennis Johnson
Sympathy for the Devil, song by The Rolling Stones
Crime and Punishment, novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Sabbath’s Theater, novel by Philip Roth
The Big Lebowski, film by Les Freres Coens
The Pickpocket, film by Robert Bresson
Typical, story by Padgett Powell
The Paperhanger, story by William Gay
In the Penal Colony, story by Franz Kafka
French Fries, selected for their ubiquity on the meals selected by death-row inmates, and their life-threatening deliciousness
In the Restaurant
An Anthology of Orders and Disorder
Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg, poem by Richard Hugo
The Killers, story by Ernest Hemingway
Nighthawks at the Diner, painting by Edward Hopper
They’re Not Your Husband, story by Raymond Carver
Took My Lady to Dinner, song by King Khan and The Shrines
Tacos
The Restaurant de la Sirene, painting by Vincent van Gogh
Top Chef, television show
More Songs About Buildings and Food, album by Talking Heads
How to Cook a Wolf, essays by M.F.K. Fisher
————-
OK. Now you go. Just pick 10 objects on a theme of your choosing. Pick more or fewer than 10 if you like. Pick three. I don’t care. If you can’t think of a theme, you can use one of these:
Artificial Limbs
Dad Let Me Down
Clothing as Character
Nature is Lovely
The Main Character Dies
The Main Character is Already Dead
Excellent Foreshadowing
Things We Did in Idaho
Falling in Love with an Asshole
Kittens at Sunset, plus Ponies
My Second DUI
Corndogs
Triumph of the Spirit
People Suck
The Main Character is Already Dead
An Anthology that Comes with a Spoiler Warning
Citizen Kane, film by Orson Welles
Sunset Boulevard, film by Billy Wilder
Pedro Páramo, book by Juan Rulfo
Point Blank, film by John Boorman
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, poem by Randall Jarrell
His Excellency: George Washington, biography by Joseph J. Ellis
Marie Provost, song by Nick Lowe
Casper, the Friendly Ghost, cartoon
Tomb of Tutankhamun, artifact
Any meat dish besides lobster
I love this. You’ve got one good noggin there, Mr. Vice.
this is excellent. I especially like the inclusion of Casper and meat. And I’ve never seen Point Blank, so maybe I will…
This is brilliant! These the anthologies we need. I really want McPhee’s “Travels in Georgia” to be in the food anthology for all the road kill that gets eaten.
I know my comments are lame and it’s pathetic that I’m not “playing” but I just want you to know that this post filled me with delight.
thanks a lot, shira — i’ve been away from bark for a couple days, and am just now checking back.
nothing lame about your comments, of course.