Dostoevsky on 'literary types'

From The Demons (aka The Devils, or The Possessed):


"She invited literary people, and they were immediately brought to her in great numbers. Then they began to come on their own, without invitations: one would bring another. Never before had she seen men of letters like these. They were impossibly vain, but very openly so, as though that was their duty. Some (though by no means all) would even turn up drunk, but they seemed to see this as evidence of some beautiful, special truth that had been discovered only the day before. All of them were strangely proud of something. On all of their faces it was written that they had just discovered some extremely important secret. They would abuse each other, and reckon it their honour. It was rather difficult to determine just what they had written; but critics, novelists, playwrights, satirists and specialists in exposes were in attendance."

(I don't know how to do an acute accent on the second e in "exposays"..)

US PAPERBACK PUB DAY.

I know I haven't been around much lately. I'd like to say I've been working and maybe I have. I can't honestly say I've started writing the new book yet. Perhaps I'm mired in research. But every book I read leads me to another.

However, I think that what has really kept me quiet is a strange fear of blogging - blogophobia - that I seem to have developed. I can't explain it. I keep thinking of ideas for posts, but I haven't been able to carry them through to fruition. I admit to feeling apprehensive and anxious right now as I type this.

Perhaps I really am reading too much Dostoevsky, especially the early stories. One of the things that draws me to Dostoevsky is his skill in writing dreams. This is a subject that I really want to blog about - there are many examples that I could cite, including the magnificent Svidrigailov dream sequence towards the end of Crime and Punishment, as well as all of Raskolnikov's disordered dreams. Then there are the stories that have very strong dream content, and in which the lines between reality and unreality are blurred. It's such a great subject, but I don't feel that I could do it justice, not without a great deal of further thought and re-reading, tracking down all the great dreams in his work.

But I can't possibly devote any time to such a project, because I am supposed to be getting on with a new novel.

So I became paralysed, at least with respect to the blog.

What has drawn me back is the fact that today is the publication day for the US trade paperback of The Gentle Axe. I felt this was an event that needed marking here in some way. It's a strange, dreamlike event for me, as I am so distant from any bookshops, or bookstores as they are known in America, that stock the US paperback. I've been told that the publication will be promoted with an ad in The New Yorker, and others in Mystery Scene Magazine and Strand Magazine. There will also be radio advertising.

Of course, the best advertising is word of mouth, and the modern form of word of mouth is the internet. So I was delighted to get a notification for this wonderful review from RJ's 3rs reading den.

A spell-binding novel that will definitely keep you up late…reading! And you’ll want to share this one with friends and coworkers –it’s really that good!

I asked my US publicist if there was anything I could do to help promote the book (I promise I wasn't angling for a ticket to New York, honest). The word came back that they would love another 'Writer's Life' video. You have been warned.

Who'd have thought it?

I learnt today, through Vulpes Libris, that Harry Enfield lists Crime and Punishment as his favourite book. Of course, me being me, I am sorely tempted to send Mr Enfield a copy of A Gentle Axe. You may remember that I sent a copy to another devotee of Dostoevsky, Lorraine Kelly.

Who will be the next TV star to declare a passion for the master of Russian angst, I wonder? Feel free to leave some suggestions.

Friends in high places.

A piece I did for Guardian Unlimited's book blog has just gone live. It's all about famous dead authors and their characters on MySpace. So today's blog entry is over here.

A Gentle Axe by R.N. Morris.

I've been a bit busy recently. Very distracted. And now it turns out I've completely forgotten to mention the fact that I've got another book coming out. It's called A Gentle Axe, written under the name R.N.Morris.

I got an email from Lucy, the press officer at Faber, today and she said: "Start shamelessly plugging A Gentle Axe on your website." That reads to me like an order, so here am. I'm nothing if not obedient.

It's a historical crime novel, which has Porfiry Petrovich, the detective from Crime and Punishment, as its hero in a sleuthing yarn. Yeah, I know. A mad idea. Cheeky isn't the word.

It comes out in the UK on February 1st 2007. You can pre-order it on amazon now. (The US edition, which will be published by The Penguin Press, comes out March 22.)

I really hope that Dostoevsky, wherever he is, has a sense of humour.