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Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas
by Chuck Klosterman
Compilation of fact and fiction never flags in spite of stylistic hiccups
Critic and columnist Chuck Klosterman has become one of the most celebrated cultural commentators of the new millennium. "Chuck Klosterman IV," his fourth book, shows why this is true. Its 2006 release adds another collection of wit and wisdom about music, sports, movies and may other subjects both intriguing and banal to Klosterman's fine body of work encompassing the spectacular triumvirate of his earlier non-fiction works: "Fargo Rock City;" "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs;" and "Killing Yourself to Live."
"IV," much like "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs," is a compilation of previously published feature stories and opinion pieces Klosterman wrote for magazines like Spin and Esquire. The book also features an unreleased fictional piece Klosterman claims he wrote intermittently while bored at work during his time at Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal.
The author breaks "IV" up into three sections based on the level of truth contained in the compiled writings: "Things That Are True," containing stories covering artists, athletes and trends Klosterman covered for a range of national publications; "Things That Might Be True," which are opinion pieces and hypotheticals on a range of issues; and "Something That Isn't True at All," comprising the aforementioned fictional work. As the section titles suggest, Klosterman is still fascinated with the nature of truth in journalism and memoir-writing, a subject with which he has been preoccupied since discussing the truth-to-fiction ratio in the foreword of "Killing Yourself to Live." The paperback edition of the book was released in the wake of the James Frey fabrication scandal.
The first two sections of "IV" represent Klosterman's writing at its considerable best. His feature stories cover a wide range of media luminaries including actor Val Kilmer, rock bands Radiohead and Wilco, and Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas are far from simple profiles. Klosterman consistently employs a great deal of analysis in what would normally be a boilerplate story, contemplating the nature of each subject's work and the contributions they make to their respective art forms. The fact that Klosterman is able to work these thoughtful angles into every story while never straying from facts about each article's centerpiece is a testament to his simultaneous journalistic integrity and his commitment to critical thought.
Though he uses the first-person far too often in stories concerning other people, this seems to be a general problem with the magazine industry as a whole, not just this particular writer. "Alternative" entertainment rags like Paste love to include the author's inane musings on interviewing famous rock stars, normally honing in on such important details as what the interviewee is wearing, where they are standing in a given room or what the interviewer and interviewee ate for lunch while discussing more important matters that are ultimately cut out of the story due to space concerns. It's hard to fault Klosterman for bowing to convention when his writing breaks so explosively with it so frequently. Perhaps this overused element of extended profiles has more to do with filling column inches than being self-consciously pompous or inadvertently obnoxious.
"Things That Might Be True" is consistently the strongest portion of the book, representing a return to Klosterman's peak form in "Cocoa Puffs" by pondering and offering trenchant, often unexpected opinions on many aspects of modern living. His scathing critique of the zealotry surrounding the Olympics is a refreshing antidote to the patriotic fervor and fandom at the heart of the world's longest, oldest sporting competition while his piece detailing how "culture can never be wrong" is a fascinating look inside how some people perceive popular trends as an attack on their personal tastes. Some of the stories come close to seeming self-important or pretentious but Klosterman normally avoids these pitfalls by talking about interesting topics and making clear, concise points. True, the article where Klosterman lays out and defends the import of his darling school of critical thought, Advancement Theory, is vague, exhausting and ultimately unconvincing, but so are any prescriptions for submission to a singular, myopic way of viewing art and culture; this represents only one brief errant turn in an otherwise spectacular section of top-notch analysis.
Then comes "Something That Isn't True at All," or the point where "IV" runs into considerable trouble. Not only does this short story, titled "You Tell Me," not fit in with the rest of the at least partially factual items contained in the rest of the book, it is a far cry from the preceding material in terms of quality as well. Klosterman keeps his self-indulgence fairly intact when he discusses his personal life or issues of great concern to him but this restraint is not evident in his treatment of Jack, a barely veiled autobiographical version of himself and the protagonist of this story. Klosterman's shrewd analysis and encyclopedic knowledge of many different media is also better employed in the service of non-fiction, as both "Me" and "Downtown Owl," the author's first novel following the publication of "IV," testify. Both pieces of fiction demonstrate Klosterman's unfortunate propensity to tell rather than show when it comes to describing character motivations, a peculiar stylistic flaw given his high level of competence at doing the opposite in his articles and essays.
For those who read the last paragraph, it may be shocking to learn that the final section of "IV" is worth recommendation along with the remainder of the book's more inspired material. "You Tell Me" is riddled with problems, but it offers a fascinating written insight into the Seinfeld-ian notion of the "dynamics of nothing." "Me" has no real beginning; a middle which, apart from a shocking climax, is subdued and uneventful; and an ending that is essentially nonexistent. This makes it yet another entry into the post-modern writing style which Klosterman has championed into the mainstream of cultural commentary, criticism and analysis, with Klosterman himself worthy of being crowned the king of the canon.
Title: Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas
Author: Chuck Klosterman
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 0743284895
Review written by: Adam Rowan
Reviewer's Rating:7.5
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
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