Comments for Books by Marianne and Michael Shapiro

Comment on Guest Book by Vincent Colapietro

Vincent Colapietro — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:44:36 +0000

When academics or intellectuals turn their hand to fiction or even narrative forms such as memoirs or histories, all too often character, scene, and drama are sacrificed to abstract ideas and theoretical positions long defended in some disciplinary context. Characters tend to be thin illustrations (often utterly eviscerated examples) of preconceived theories, scenes artificially staged confrontations in which human drama is more or less absent. Michael Shapiro has, in marked contrast to this, proven himself to have a storyteller’s ear and a novelist’s eye for the seemingly insignificant, yet ultimately fateful detail. One has the sense, when confronted with his portrayal of persons, of being in the presence of singular, complex, and indeed palpable beings whose lives are dramatically intertwined. For this imaginative and erudite scholar and theorist to be as well such a keen observer of character and adept narrator of events seems hardly fair. Should one person possess, at this level of mastery, such diverse and demanding talents?

Vincent Colapietro
Liberal Arts Research Professor
Department of Philosophy
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA

Comment on Guest Book by Robert Hatten

Robert Hatten — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:09:18 +0000

Dear Michael,

As one of your appreciative students (of markedness) and friends who remembers Marianne’s beautiful playing I am endlessly fascinated by the lightly fictionalized accounts you give of her intellect and your conversational exchanges. Reading of the cruel betrayals she endured and your description of one of the villains as a drooling fish reminded me of a poem I once wrote about such a power-broker that begins

Like a puff-fish you swell
with such a bluff significance
we find it hard to swallow.

I wish I could have known her better but when I read your devotional book I realize the whole world now has that chance. Her work already lives on; through you the fullness of her life is made immortal. Thank you!

Yours
Robert

Comment on Guest Book by Toby Massenberg

Toby Massenberg — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:27:48 +0000

My Wife the Metaphysician or Lady Murasaki’s Revenge has a powerful and irresistible effect on the reader. An amazing page turner.

Comment on Guest Book by Ellen Dent

Ellen Dent — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:41:03 +0000

In this rich multifaceted book Michael Shapiro has written a moving tribute to his late wife and the life they shared. It is however much more than a description of a brilliant scholar and loving wife and mother combining as it does elements of Japanese and Russian literature erudite discourses on such subjects as Dante troubadour poetry and Christian theology and witty observations of the human scene. The notes at the end of the book illuminate the narrative while explaining its genesis.

Comment on Guest Book by Jeff Goodman

Jeff Goodman — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:44:41 +0000

Michael Shapiro’s My Wife the Metaphysician, or Lady Murasaki’s Revenge is one of the most compelling and extraordinary works of literature I have read in a very long time. I experienced it as essentially a love story: a great romance delineated within a context of multiple worlds of time, space, and culture. It touches upon a vast array of intellectual and artistic traditions and I was transported into a fabulous and richly provocative world of love, passion, and mystery.

Comment on Guest Book by Raimo Anttila

Raimo Anttila — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:49:32 +0000

The cover of Marianne Shapiro’s novel Higher Learning shows a cracked ivory tower looking like an old telescope pointing to the foundations of the American university. Indeed the modern pirates are underground like sewer rats and wear gowns and their (twin) eye patches prevent them from seeing any kind of truth.

The enigmatic motto of the book Cui prodest makes one think of the movie of some years back Kramer vs. Kramer. The movie is a sharp vivisection of the American divorce but in Europe it was taken as a totally imaginary world this was highly appreciated because who could cook up such a fantastic world!

The indications of the reactions to Marianne Shapiro’s work seem to point to a similar split viz. those who know academe and those who don’t. Those who don’t cannot believe that the ivory towers rest on dirty clay, although the book is extremely good reading in the vein of Europe’s reaction to Kramer vs. Kramer. Those who do know this “sage” world refuse to see themselves parodied to pulp and ignore the vivisectio sagax in the book. These are 95% supermen. (A few years ago a Gallup poll showed that 95% of American professors indicated that they thought themselves above the average.) Since Marianne Shapiro’s book exposes the flim-flam operators and academic confidence men of course they want to ignore it.

The beauty of Marianne Shapiro’s book is that it can be read without realizing the ironic total poverty of the modern American university. It provides mystery, intrigue, and satire, served with wit and charm. She does not overdo the scathing that would have been justified. But there it is for the initiated: secret societies of sham megalomaniacs and dim-witted failed scholars in positions of power against whom the remaining 5% do not have a chance. And there underground students are molded and want to be molded into the insects of the 95%.

The book is a novel but at the same time a perspicacious sociological study. Great on both levels!

Comment on Guest Book by Lubo Diakov

Lubo Diakov — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:34:40 +0000

I thoroughly enjoyed Higher Learning not just for the glimpse into academia but as a reminder of how convoluted the world is. Still working on reading Lady Murasaki enjoying it and learning about art, music, history and a plethora of other subjects.

Comment on Guest Book by Bill Snoddy

Bill Snoddy — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:41:32 +0000

Michael – I don’t have the background to fully understand all that’s in My Wife the Metaphysician” but I believe this may be one of the greatest love letters of all time.

Congratulations!

Comment on Guest Book by Norris Frederick

Norris Frederick — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:31:31 +0000

Marianne Shapiro’s Higher Learning is a delight: it’s smart, intriguing and at times uproariously funny. Nothing in higher education is safe from satire in this book. And in addition to all the clever and erudite humor, it’s also a darned good mystery.