All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost

Hip, hip, hooray for lilacs!

I found this novel while doing a Google search for "best unsung books." Written by Lan Samantha Chang, an instructor at the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop, All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost follows two students of a writing instructor through the ups and downs of their careers as writers.

It's not a particularly happy story.

The instructor, Miranda, acts stern and disinterested in her students, who include Bernard and Roman. Bernard is a practicing Catholic who labors on one poem during his life. Roman becomes a famous writer and marries their mutual friend Lucy. Both boys admire Miranda, though. Which angles of this isosceles love triangle will move closer -- and which will move further away? The jacket description asks (more profoundly), "What are the personal costs of a life devoted to the pursuit of art?"

The answer is somewhat dismal in this book. All of the writers fail to engage in normal relationships with others in pursuit of their careers, which I find sad, since most of us find huge amounts of meaning in relationships. They help define who we are and who we become.

Things I learned:

1. I don't want to go to writing school and pick everything apart. (I was the world's worst English major. I'd always go to class, hear obscure theories about literature and think, "Why can't it just mean what it says?")
2. Writing can become all-consuming.
3. Relationships should be nurtured above all else.
4. One caveat: Don't have an affair with an instructor. This is the wrong kind of relationship to pursue.

(PG-13 for suggested sensuality [although she kept it very chaste to her credit], recommended for writers)