Let’s call it The Book of Masters
20 February 2012 | Share:
In the last week, I’ve been through a good two dozen alternative titles for the novel I’ve been calling “I Will Flood You.”
I really like that title—it was Peter Siskind’s idea to use it—because it captures the emotional core of the book, a flood of voices amidst a real flood of water, which of course could care less about “the romantic pulse of men, or painters.”
Nevertheless, the book is about painters, none of whom are really masters (though some, like Rembrandt and Raphaelle Peale, were named for masters), and all of whom are trying desperately to master the art of life. Poor things.
So let’s call it “The Book of Masters.” In any case, the book’s narrator, Caleb Cloud, and his friends are trying to write a book called 50 American Masters, so the new title echos their ill-starred project, yet one more book without a publisher.