Dissecting Writers                                   John Feddeler

The following questions are taken from a profile of Scottish author Ian Rankin for bookshop chain Waterstone's:
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/pages/content/1285/
Now all but two have been posed to our resident pondering ponderer John Feddeler

http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poets/JohnFeddeler/





-What was your favorite childhood book?

Okay, comic books. Primarily ‘The Spirit’ by Will Eisner. so shoot me.
 

-Which book has made you laugh?

Some funny moments in ‘Kinski Uncut’, like his affair with a seven foot tall woman.
 

-Which book has made you cry?

Some heart tugging passages in the Cummings bio, ‘Dreams in the Mirror,’ as in all biographies.
 

-Which book would you never have on your bookshelf?

Those romance novels never interested me. sorry, Ladies.
 

-Which book are you reading at the moment?

Still working on ‘Grace and Power,’ by Sally Bedell Smith.
 

-Which book would you give as a present to a friend?

‘God on a Harley’


-Which other writers do you admire?

Cummings, Richard Brautigan, Frank O’Hara, Kerouac of course. Jim Morrison.


-Which classic have you always meant to read and never got round to it?

‘Henry and June’ (is that a classic?) by Anais Nin, but I saw the movie.
 

-What are your top five books of all time, in order or otherwise?

‘Suspicious River’ Laura Kasischke
‘Dreams in the Mirror: a biography of E. E. Cummings’ Richard Kennedy
‘God on a Harley’ Joan Brady
‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Walter Tevis
‘Kinski Uncut’ Klaus Kinski (autobiography)


-What is the worst book you have ever read?

Haven’t had the misfortune, I’m pretty selective in my choices.
 

-Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

Cummings, first & foremost.
 

-What is your favorite time of day to write?
 
I don’t pick it, it picks me. she wakes me in the middle of the night, sometimes.


-And favorite place?
 
My desk or in bed.
 

-Longhand or word processor?
 
Longhand, to feel more akin to the immortals.


-Which fictional character would you most like to have met?
 
Leila Murray, the moonlighting hooker in ‘Suspicious River.’ (sixty freakin’ dollars!)


-Who, in your opinion, is the greatest writer of all time?

I’m totally biased toward Cummings. I stand by that choice, even under severe interrogation.


Which book have you found yourself unable to finish reading?

Haven’t. the books I chose held my interest all the way.
 

What is your favorite word?
 
Chiaroscuro. The exotic sound of it, the images it conjures…