James Wolcott did not just write a memoir. In fact, in “Lucking Out: My Life Getting Down and Semi-Dirty in the Seventies,” Walcott gives readers an important message founded in great modesty, humor and sincerity with a single purpose. Readers follow along to a past of vulnerability and rejection, as we are lead to Walcott’s pursuit and conclusion of a dream coming true.
Wolcott’s memoir is a work most writers could look up to, not only because the writing is vibrant and addicting, but also because Wolcott started from the bottom and managed to work his way up to the upper echelon of literary society.
Admittedly, I was originally engrossed by the cover of the work — a blurred image of a man walking against the skyline of New York City. In juxtaposition with the memoir, Wolcott managed to symbolically connect that sense of indistinct identity with the story of how he came to be one of the most famed cultural critics, all starting in the fall of 1972.
When Wolcott moved to New York City, he threw caution to the wind, leaving everything behind him as he moved forward toward his dream of becoming a published writer. Wolcott remained an interest throughout in large part that he was forthright about what inspired his writing — the works of former mentor Norman Mailer. The example demonstrated that no matter how popular Wolcott became, he never took his status for granted.
Structurally, he divides his memoir into five sections — “Lucking Out,” “Like Civilized People,” “Punk,” “Bodily Contact” and “What Are You Doing Here?” The entire memoir is written in prose form, something not easily done, but luckily perfected.
In the opening of “Lucking Out,” Walcott writes, “How lucky I was, arriving in New York just as everything was about to go to hell.” Indeed, for Wolcott, the memoir is by no means an easy ride for the readers as we are taken scene by scene of his early days — a deep well of squalor living and denial.
No matter what is lost in time, Wolcott continues his focus when reverting back to a past where “so much is gone, stricken from the scene, but it’s still there, a landmark site in nobody’s mind but my own.”
One of strongest themes throughout is Wolcott’s rejection of the traditional path — specifically, his definition of what it means to be successful and the steps that lead you there. Ultimately, this book may serve as an episodic account of Wolcott’s life, but the lessons he learns throughout become the key points to a unity that connects him to his readers.
Rating: W W W W 1/2
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