In today’s SF Chronicle, Leah Garchik’s column:
Howard Junker’s new book, a collection of blog entries, is “An Old Junker.” Junker, founder and former editor of the literary journal Zyzzyva, is regarded by many – well, let’s say by me – as a person who holds strong opinions.
Hoping to mention the book, and having over time received e-mails including those opinions, I wrote to him, suggesting he is known for his “hot temper … kind of Larry David-esque,” and asking if he ever regretted “getting angry, sounding off?”
He replied that he doesn’t see himself that way but rather as an “angry old man” about public issues, and also “injustice, foodieism, smugness.” In an e-mail that arrived the next day, he called his views “harsh truths” and provided references to them. So here’s a Junker quiz, with five “harsh truths” and five targets: match ‘em up.
1. “Slickly disguised, as all false prophets and anti-Christs are”; 2. “Unreadable”; 3. “Fey antics”; 4. “Incoherent, tells no story”; 5. “Epitome of Late Imperial bombast.” (a) Fisher collection; (b) Michael Pollan; (c) Richard Serra; (d) Dave Eggers; (e) Jonathan Franzen.
P.S.: “Woefully miscast in her job” and “ungainly prose style” are his phrases for me.
Answers to Junker quiz: 1b; 2e; 3d; 4a; 5c.
