James Hynes

In the last couple weeks, Next has popped up in two very smart articles. Each of them is about something larger than my novel, and each of them impressed me as being the sort of thoughtful literary journalism that everybody's saying that nobody writes anymore. Everybody's wrong.

The first piece is a lively article about "circadian novels" by Jim Higgins, the arts and books editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal. Turns out, "circadian novels" is the technical term for what I've been calling "day-in-the-life" novels. Higgins gives sharp readings of the two Big Ones, Ulysses and Mrs. Dalloway (which I have acknowledged my debt to, especially Dalloway), and he introduces a slew of other examples, several of which I'd never heard of, and a couple of which (at least) I intend to track down. Even if it didn't mention Next (twice), I'd have thought this was a terrific article.

And just today, the literary blogger Levi Stahl has posted an equally terrific piece about David Shields' controversial new book, Reality Hunger, which uses Next as a sort of counterexample to Shields' argument. I won't summarize Stahl's line of reasoning, because you can read it for yourself, but I loved it, and not just because he said nice things about Next. I was thrilled to see such a shrewd and appreciative reading of my own book, of course, but mainly I thought Stahl's "yes, but" rebuttal of Shields is one of the best I've come across, and I was glad I was able to be of service.

This week, FiveChapters.com is featuring my short story "Backseat Driver." This is a revised version of the same story I posted on this website a couple of years ago. The earlier version was set in Texas, but after I was invited by my friend Keith Taylor to contribute to an anthology of Michigan ghost stories, I rewrote the story to set it in recession-era Michigan, specifically East Lansing. The revised story will appear next year in Ghosts Coming Home: Contemporary Ghost Stories from Michigan, edited by Keith Taylor and Laura Kasischke, from Wayne State University Press. In the meantime, thanks to David Daley for asking me to contribute to FiveChapters.

Also this week, John Kenyon of Things I'd Rather Be Doing interviews me about Next.

I thought that the press for Next had run its course, but here are two late-breaking reviews, one by Matt Soergel at Jacksonville.com and a brand new one by Karen R. Long in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

My friend Jim Crace has a new novel coming out five days from now, All That Follows. It's set, in part, right here in Austin, Texas, and one of the crucial scenes takes place at the Texas Book Festival. When Jim was researching the book, he stayed with me for a week, and from now on, whatever the fate of my own books or my reputation as an author, I can lay indisputable claim to one signal literary accomplishment: I introduced the award-winning author of Gift of Stones, Quarantine, Being Dead, and The Pesthouse to Texas barbecue.

The book is already out in Britain, but in the meantime, as we wait for it to arrive here, you can read this review, check out a characteristically charming interview with Jim, and peruse the catalog of his archives at the Ransom Center. I leave you with the man himself, reading aloud from the opening pages of All That Follows, while seated deep in the stacks of the Ransom Center. I don't believe they've archived Jim himself, but you never know; the Ransom Center folks are nothing if not thorough.

While I was suffering the effects of (self-inflicted) food poisoning over the weekend, Next received two more reviews: a nice Briefly Noted review in the New Yorker, and a very generous review by Ken Harvey in Edge. 

Note to self: do not use an expired can of tomatoes in spaghetti sauce ever again.

My fishing buddy Maud Newton has posted my reading list for Next (don't worry, there won't be an exam). And at the Campaign for the American Reader, I put Next to the Page 69 Test. It passes with flying colors.

There is also a new review of the book at Monsters and Critics, and at The Second Pass, there's a precis of the critical reaction so far.

And this just in (4/1/10): I talk about Next with Jack Palmer at BombBlog.

But wait, there's more (4/2/10): I provide stray answers to Gregory Cowles's Stray Questions on the Paper Cuts blog at the New York Times.

Ron Charles has reviewed Next in this morning's Washington Post. And you can read my defense of unlikable characters in fiction at the Powell's Books website.

Tod Goldberg has a review of Next in this Sunday's Los Angeles Times.

I know I promised I'd never mention it again, but I'd be remiss if I didn't thank everybody who came out to my event at BookPeople last night, especially all the friends and co-workers who showed up not only on a Friday night, but on the first Friday night of SXSW. Given all the groovy young talent pouring into town this weekend, listening to me read can't have been at the top of anyone's list. Hell, even I wouldn't have shown up if I didn't have to.

But somehow, I had a full house, everybody laughed at all the right places, and a lot of folks bought books. So thanks again for coming out and for all your good wishes. Thanks, too, to BookPeople for hosting such a successful and relaxed event, and thanks especially to Mimi Mayer for taking pictures.

So now I guess I have to start writing another book.