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SOME NERVE Nerve:
Literate Smut
Add up collective star power however you like; the whole rarely equals the sum of the parts. Take the 1995 film Four Rooms, in which four talented young directors were each asked to script and execute one quarter of the feature. Great idea, but unfortunately directors like Allison Anders and Quentin Tarantino had a tough time, even with an acting stable that included Tim Roth, Antonio Banderas and Madonna. Nerve: Literate Smut doesn't make for good math, either. Individually Rick Moody, Sallie Tisdale, William Vollmann and Lisa Carver have a lot to say about sex, but collectively they're timid. Nerve's editors, Genevieve Field and Rufus Griscom, who also publish a Web magazine by the same name, fall victim to the idea that big names mean a great book. Most of the essays are undeveloped, as if they were scrawled the day before they were due. Field and Griscom's www.nerve.com, which spends time developing stories, not dropping names, is much more fun to read. The pieces in the collection that do succeed are ones in which the author's focus isn't solely autobiographical. An interview with photographer Richard Kern examines how he went from being anti-sex to pro-sex. Casually journalistic essays about Japanese animation and instructional sex videos are more substantial, as is Dr. Joycelyn Elders' recounting of her struggles with "the M word." Field and Griscom should be praised for their efforts. They've assembled an exciting variety of authors, from the underground to the White House. But as in most star-driven projects--whether they're tribute albums, group art shows or books--the combination of catchy themes and well-known artists seems to be more about dollars than substance. --Brooke DeNisco
originally published August 26, 1998 |
