I, Asimov (A New Way to Write a Memoir) · 9:40am Jan 22nd, 2019
The legendary... sideburns
You may notice, as we go along, that the style of this review is different from the rest.
Why is that? It's my form of a 'thank you' to the great, the late, the one and only Isaac Asimov. There's a chance you may not have heard of him—and you are that much poorer for it. He was one of the great writers of science fiction. But that was not all he wrote. No, no.
Isaac Asimov wrote well over 500 books on a wide range of subjects.
And if you search up the word 'prolific' in the dictionary, you’re bound to find his name. But it is not my attempt to blindly worship the man. All you must know is that he wrote a lot, and that he was an interesting man despite living a rather dull life.
And I think there are things about him that are worth learning about for ourselves. If not for writers, then as people.
INSTALLMENT 2 | REVIEWS
I, ASIMOV
We all must have a little snark in our lives.
The subject of this essay will focus on Isaac Asimov's autobiography.
The first thing we must do is rejoice in the way it is structured. Instead of being written linearly, which is to say, heavy focus on the events as they happened, this book takes a different approach, being made up of 165 mini-essays.
Relax. It's not the kind of essays you're thinking about. No. What Issac does is take a single idea, thought, feeling, or thesis, and has that be the primary focus of his mini-essays. This provides a refreshing account of someone's life—and appeals to the self-interest of the reader as well.
We must be someone pretty interesting, or rather, have very interesting events happen in our lives to have others desire to read our memoirs. To focus solely on what has happened to you, with nothing to offer to readers in return, almost makes them wonder if they are paying to give you free therapy.
What is nice about the mini-essays, however, is that they focus on something that is universal. Be it loyalty or friendship, intelligence or failure, it uses these themes to make use of relevant events that have happened in Asimov's life. So not only do these events gain new meaning, but they are also pulled for the parts that are relevant.
This is a marvelous way to structure a memoir. I'm quite surprised I have not seen it before. Because of this, every essay had something to offer, in its own way, while being entertaining and exploratory of the great writer's life.
And it is very comfortable to live in Asimov's skin. He is very warm and witty about how he shares his life, to the point it feels more like fiction, and you can't help but feel like the guy at times. Because of the use of themes per essay, he can make an essay about making coffee engaging.
As long as something feels like it'll be useful, we become immersed. With that point in mind, I take it to my future works.
As you may have already guessed, I will not be going into a summary of the book.
Why is that? There are already others who could do a better job of it than I. If you wish to read a good summary of the book, then I would suggest checking out Goodreads for the reviews there. Much like how the book itself is written, I will delve into the matters of Asimov's life when they become relevant to the points.
Now then. The next part of the book, and this one was quite a shocker to me, was my inability to put it down. This has not happened in quite some time and it blew my mind when it happened. It was only recently that I was turned onto the idea of essays—Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison being my inspiration.
But there's a difference between the two: Isaac Asimov uses plain writing to express his points, not an embellishment to be found. Where Ellison is quite the reverse, using longer sentences, playing with words, and far more active and intense prose.
Which makes for better writing? I don't think that's a question that can be answered objectively. It's not a matter of one being better than the other, but rather, each achieving their own standard of quality. They are not better than each other, but rather, different from each other.
And when it comes down to two equal, different things, all that matters is your preference.
So we won't make the mistake of claiming one to be superior. But we can look into the reasons of what makes each style itself enjoyable. The great (or worse) thing about Ellison is that he speaks directly to the reader. He has such intensity in this regard that it almost feels like his prose is screaming at you.
The problem with this is the need to impress instead of express. Instead of focusing on the point he is trying to make, or tell a story that will be retained, Ellison goes full force with his prose, using his skills to make rich language that doesn't quite stay with you when you're done reading.
In short, Ellison is about style.
For the longest time, I thought that this was the way to go, simply because you could carry any subject should you have enough passion and wit behind it. Worse than that, I felt that you could compensate for your very existence should you have enough wit.
Whereas I enjoyed reading Ellison, I was never commanded back to his book. There was never the true desire to see what the next article was about. His writing was a joy and his rants even more so. But they never held something in themselves that made me think or come back or anything like that.
More than anything, his prose and personality had me, but not much more than that.
And I figured that's the way things went. Of course, that was only before I picked up I, Asimov and fell in love at once. A small book of 500 pages, I figured I'd get not even reach 100 before something else grabbed my attention.
But something else grabbed my attention.
It was Isaac Asimov himself. He wrote with very plain prose. Almost like he was speaking to himself, he used short sentences and said, very logically, what he thought. Usually, this goes tits up in the boredom factor—and this book was anything but.
And I'm still at a loss for how he did it. How he could write with such simple prose, on the subject of a rather dull life, without much emotion but filled to the brim with logic? It was man mostly speaking to himself, glad if someone else heard, but didn't really care if someone did.
How could he have written this 500-page book I read in under two days? Why was something so basic and so logical overwhelmingly emotional when I read it? It gave me a few things to consider while reading the book.
The first thing I must say, on the comparison of style between Asimov and Ellison, is the metaphor of a window. He makes the case that stained glass is beautiful: it shines warm and different colors lights. But really, it's very hard to see through on what's happening on the other side.
Now take plain glass. Simple and not much to it. But you can look easily through it and see what is happening beyond, and if this happens for long enough, you forget that you're looking through glass.
Ellison is the former; Asimov is the latter.
Yes. Style itself is still content. You can read a thing for the beauty of its prose and nothing more. That is more than alright. When done well, prose and story come together, hand and hand, to immerse you further in what is happening.
So take this second lesson from Asimov: you do not have to oversell yourself. Fancy prose and embellishments are not required to entertain and retain your readers. You can use the most basic prose possible to make yourself clear. In fact, at times, I found this more enjoyable than any sentence Ellison has ever written.
In fear of not making my point clear, allow me to do so here, if just for a moment. I'm not sure what kind of style a writer should go for, or from who they should be inspired by. I think lyrical prose is just as good as simple prose.
But there is more room for error in the former than there is in the latter. And much like how the rhythm of lyrical prose can carry itself, so too can the ideas, feelings, and events stated by the simple prose carry itself as well.
In other words, do not feel the need to embellish your works or your stories, even if your life has been rather dull. You can state simply what has happened. Put yourself into your work still. State your ideas and feelings and such.
Those alone can carry anything despite the way it's written.
There is not much left for me to write.
Those two things: structure and style, are big in themselves. The book itself is an engaging read of the man's life. It's empowering, really, to writers. When you read about how he spent his childhood working long hours, no matter how he felt, at his father's candy store—it makes sense how this man could write for ten hours a day.
When you read about him going to school, and struggling, despite his previous brilliance, to prove himself—it fills you with a comfort that another bears a similar reason. His discovery that he was not a specialist, but rather, a man who knows a little about a lot, may help you process a thing or do.
And the essays on writing themselves are worthy of being the best on the subject ever.
From the structure of this book, to the way how it's written, with his thoughts being the lens in which we view events, renders this book impossible to put down. The book itself would blow your mind on the subject of writing itself. More than any style book, it has given me plenty to ponder.
And the epilogue will have you in tears. Death lingers in the background of most essays, because Asimov knew that it was his time to leave soon. There's nothing worse than being with this person, this best friend, for over 500 pages... only to have him leave, his wife enters, and his tale concluded.
You make a terrific friend, explore his life and his thoughts together, and by the time it all comes to a close, you have to be willing to say farewell. I did so, bitterly, but with some hope in store in what I would continue to do with my habit of words.
So. Here's to you, Isaac Asimov.
The man who kept to his word.
~ 4/5 ~
It's funny, I never thought it possible that people might not know who Asimov is. As a fan I fully endorse this blog.
I haven't read I Asimov, but it's going into my shopping basket next time I go up the bookstore.
5000744
Sad how quickly the times are rolling by, eh?
I have another one that goes point by point of all the advice Asimov gives in the book. Of course, reading the books itself will be immensely better. How he writes that book is probably his best writing yet. If you been waiting for a book that you acutally cannot put down, this one is more than worthwhile.
If nothing else, it'll make you enjoy the writing process all the more.
5000744
Likewise.