"Barbarian Days" by William Finnegan

[SUPcheat]

I finished reading “Barbarian Days” by William Finnegan of New Yorker fame.

It was a great read for me.  He allowed me to steep in the more advanced mentations of surf life over a lifetime.  He is a few years younger than me, so the identification of time periods was there for me.

Finnegan’s ability to describe ocean moods, reefs, and different kinds of waves and conditions is poetic.  I could even understand some of it.

However, I am glad I did not read the book before I tried to surf myself.  He has several memes that would discourage the geriatric aspirant.  If you don’t start by 14, you will never be any good.  If you are older and you surf a long board, you are washed up and have retired.  If you are in your mid to late twenties, you have peaked and can no longer progress.

Of course, if you spend an incredible amount of time, blood, sweat, tears and resources on a sport, it would be difficult to avoid stratified thinking and intimations of entitled pontification.

I would suspect that if he shared his views of SUP, his opinions would be excoriating and he would piss on SUP from a lofty height as a wimp’s crutch and entirely un-authentic to surfing.

He suffered ear ossicles and eye pterygium by the time of his extended surf trip in his mid/late twenties, which he seemed to consider badges of honor.  He also stayed at the remains of the Boyum surf camp in Java for a bit and was aware of the adventures of the Boyum brothers, as well as the outlaw surfer exploits of Mike Boyum. He also caught malaria a couple of times, and nearly died from it.

I had a few pet peeves with his world view. He is adamant about his sense of independence, and projects himself as pretty much self made through trials, tribulations and poverty. However, he was a child of at least moderate privilege.  He seems to be ashamed of that to the point of denial.

In my day, the guys who were on work study didn’t have time for world jaunts.  The better off kids were the ones who, with a safety net for their tightrope walks, would take off on adventures, knowing that they were a phone call, telegram or letter away from a check or a bailout.  Finnegan seems to be a bit disingenuous about being able to drop in and out of school, always having the gnosh for a plane ticket or expedition, and claiming he worked for all of it.  That just doesn’t completely track for me.

The better off kids were also the ones who would cultivate the image of roughing it, but didn’t hesitate to flash their credentials if it meant moving into a better crowd or upgrading their date potential.  You see a lot of these vagabond bohemians around Santa Cruz who, no matter how downscale their ostensible existences, have the gravitas of dough and social status behind them.

I have been in hospital residency, and the pony tailed doc of Ocean Beach doesn’t completely track for me, either.  I seriously doubt he could have been surfing every day, at least for large segments of his training and career, unless he was seriously connected to get away with it.  Medical school might offer some windows, but internships, residencies and post doc are absolutely crushing and all consuming work loads. I have know smart doctors who have been kicked out of programs because their idea of how their schedule should be didn’t track with department chairmen. After becoming established, a doctor might be able to trim back his schedule to surf more if he were so inclined, or just work part time at clinics.  I would imagine that Doc’s “rich kid” ethic is what made the Ocean Beach, pony tailed Doc contemptible to the blue collar surfers Finnegan describes.

So much for class struggle.

Finnegan’s surf view seldom, if ever, descends into grand philosophical  faery projections of zen oneness with the ocean or phony religious fervor.  His obsession is a thinly disguised antidote to a manic death wish. He bashes himself on surfing.  He is a victim of some kind of species driven, genetic, hyperactive Thanatos that forces him into sequential risk taking and rabid, dangerous exploration.  This characterizes his journalistic career, as well, where he would go time and again into vividly hazardous war and political climates for reportage.

In that regard, I am his polar opposite. However, I am glad he did it for me.

The book, oddly enough, helped to clarify for me the nature of risk in a dangerous sport.  Finnegan describes many ill advised judgements leading to near death experiences at the hands of waves and reefs, for himself and others.

Since I am learning surfing in my dotage, the book really makes me wonder how much of a ‘death wish’ the sport represents.  Walking up the the ocean, kicking in the shins, and yelling “Kill me, or make me better!”

I don’t know how much the book has to offer experienced surfers, but I highly recommend it for the novice or intermediate wave bashers about how time and space effect the journey. In particular, for me, it is about what the past can never be, but gratitude for how much I have gotten, even in limitation.

Finnegan loved James Joyce in his youth, so I hope the book’s sequel isn’t “Finnegan’s Wake”.


 

[FeralInBaja]

SupCheat! God, but you're a well-spoken individual. I guess I'll have to grab a copy of "Barbarian Days" by William Finnegan. I know your area well and cause of a brother 13 years older than me, had a skateboard and bellyboard (Boogies didn't exist back then) before I was born. Actually didn't start surfing regularly till 7 years old, but you get the pic. Hey, get outside the peak down past privates reeeealll early, and get some green walls for me, huh? Someday I'll tell you 'bout connecting the cloud-break outside Sharks to Capitola main beach. Giant swell of '83 let you surf in front of Capitola pier (cause 30 feet of it was torn off!) and kick out at the flooded Esplanade. 4x4 bros giving rides back to the hook. But Srsly. You get some good waves. I can tell you deserve 'em. Don't let any S.C. stink-eye tell you otherwise.

[stoneaxe]

I hope the book is as fun to read as that review.

[raf]

I just finished the book as well, and think its fantastic.  I agree with most of that review. 

I found it interesting how someone who so completely gives themselves to surfing seems able to periodically give it up for years at a time.  I agree that he is a little snobbish on progression, and doesn't think much of getting older.  But who of us does?  I shudder to think of how I have changed in just the last 3 years!

Barbarian Days is an intellectual love story about surfing.  Very well written, by someone who is introspective and curious about the world he lives in.  I highly recommend it to everyone, even non-surfers.  I was hooked after reading the excerpt that was linked on the Zone a few months ago. 

[covesurfer]

I started reading 'Barbarian Days' several weeks ago and am not quite half way through. I liked the review SUPcheat. Thanks for taking the time and putting all the thought into it.

At this point in reading the book, I would recommend it to any of my water loving pals.

[SUPJorge]

SupCheat,

Thanks for the thoughtful review. You write "In that regard, I am his polar opposite. However, I am glad he did it for me" but I wonder if he didn't really do it just for himself. I'm pretty tight on time and, after reading your review, not sure I want to read this. As much as I want (and need) to learn more about this great sport, if the root of this read is the ego-centric narcissism I'm sensing, I'm not sure I want to put myself through it. There are already have too many who think they've seen the shit try to tell me where it's at. And not that I've seen it all -- far from it -- and I certainly t have much to learn but I have figured out that it all starts with a healthy does of humility. Doesn't seem like there's much of that there.

 

[SUPcheat]

SupCheat,

Thanks for the thoughtful review. You write "In that regard, I am his polar opposite. However, I am glad he did it for me" but I wonder if he didn't really do it just for himself. I'm pretty tight on time and, after reading your review, not sure I want to read this. As much as I want (and need) to learn more about this great sport, if the root of this read is the ego-centric narcissism I'm sensing, I'm not sure I want to put myself through it. There are already have too many who think they've seen the shit try to tell me where it's at. And not that I've seen it all -- far from it -- and I certainly t have much to learn but I have figured out that it all starts with a healthy does of humility. Doesn't seem like there's much of that there.

I am sorry that I conveyed that.  He is not quite so bad as that. He is spinning a partial biography centered around his surfing life.  He does manage to be pretty self effacing in many segments.  In some, he's almost robotic describing the things he put himself throught.

The book also has lots of segments that are purely informational about Finnegan's very rich and varied surf childhood and many locales that make it worth the read.

You could probably fault my errors of interpretation more than Finnegan's ego. It's as much my blurry lens as his, so the review is IMHO.

I don't know if Finnegan meant it to be funny or not. In one section, he is going across the great Australian Red Desert in a wheezing car with his surf buddy, Bryan, and happens across some female hitchhikers headed for an all female commune.  He has a brief, intense affair with one of them.  She then states that her "last fling" with a man convinces her that she wants to join the lesbian commune after all.  He is so dumbstruck and furious, he tries to "rescue" her from the commune as they are cutting off all of her hair and is arrested.

Not many studs would admit that going with them convinced a girl to finally go lesbian, and the segment had me rolling with laughter.

[SUP CPA]

I grew up in Honolulu around the same time Finnegan did and his recollections ring so true.  Unlike him, I never became a great haole surfer that earned respect.  I just got hassled like he did early on except it never ceased for me until my parents realized what was going on and put me in private school.

Really, it sucked a lot of the time (and probably still does) to be a blond-haired kid in public school in Hawaii.

[eastbound]

the circumstances of my youth were very different from those of finnegan, but he captures common currency of boyhood in ways that struck a deja vu chord with me. and that's just one place of the many in the book i appreciated.

you have to expect the book to be as it is--a memoir. if you find memoirs annoyingly narcissistic and self-indulgent, this one won't disappoint.

cheat--you gave me a giggle re the lesbian shearing scene.

i have always enjoyed finnegan's stuff in NYer, and was pleasantly surprised by this wonderful book, which is completely different from his typical work.

one takeaway, which i shared with my aspiring-writer daughters: Finnegan is always writing--whether for school, work or because he's working on a novel, or whatever. He seems able to live in a sweet spot, where he is self-motivated, disciplined and productive, and not-seriously-affected by the intense angst burden that many writers experience.

[Bean]

I hope the book is as fun to read as that review.

Don't ruin it for me Stoney... I only got about a quarter way through the review (so far).

[JT]

I read the entire book in the first couple of days after it came out. I don't have any particularly insightful review, but his memoir confirmed for me what I have long suspected: Those who pursue what they're truly keen on seem better off than those who pursue what they think they should pursue. His serendipitous surf journey during his twenties -- plus his disciplined writing throughout -- led to the kind of career that those who choose, say, the more conventional J-school and entry-level, fact-checking drudgery probably only dream about.

I have no real idea what sort of privilege the author enjoyed as a young man. But to spend a good chunk of one's twenties (and early thirties?) gainfully unemployed or underemployed represents a significant lifetime career risk. I'm glad the author took that risk and told us his story.

[headmount]

I read the entire book in the first couple of days after it came out. I don't have any particularly insightful review, but his memoir confirmed for me what I have long suspected: Those who pursue what they're truly keen on seem better off than those who pursue what they think they should pursue. His serendipitous surf journey during his twenties -- plus his disciplined writing throughout -- led to the kind of career that those who choose, say, the more conventional J-school and entry-level, fact-checking drudgery probably only dream about.

I have no real idea what sort of privilege the author enjoyed as a young man. But to spend a good chunk of one's twenties (and early thirties?) gainfully unemployed or underemployed represents a significant lifetime career risk. I'm glad the author took that risk and told us his story.

In Sea Wolf when Wolf Larsen asks the man who he had saved from being swept out of San Francisco Bay after his ferry had sunk, "What do you do for a living?" "I am a gentleman.  I have worked."  "For your living? Who feeds you?"  "I have an income."  "Who earned it?  Eh? I thought so  Your father.  You stand on dead man's legs.  You've never had any of your own.  You couldn't walk alone between two sunrises and hustle the meat for your belly for three meals.  Let me see your hands."  Jack London wrote this in 1904 when he saw the softening of our citified culture. 

[eastbound]

so there's a pov that finnegan came from privilege, and wouldnt have amounted to the writer he has without such origins?

hogwash on all fronts--

he moved from a comfy suburban CA existence to public HS as a haole in HI. He found solace in books, writing and surfing. He worked on the railroad, and at any jobs he could scrounge up as a young man, while exploring, surfing and constantly writing, submitting, being rejected--finally getting legs as a serious, respected writer.

his tenacity and his gifts, combined, are why he is where he is as a writer. Like his work or not, his process is unarguably respectable.

[supthecreek]

Thanks for the chatter on this book.
It is sitting next to my chair, waiting for me to dive in.
I received a copy as a gift from my friend eastbound.... but I have been on the road so much that I haven't settled in to read it.

This chatter has put it on top of my list..... as soon as I get back from a visit to Connecticut 

Having been a nar'do well surf bum all my life, I should have some thoughts on the matter.
My family was solidly middle class, but I never asked for a dime from anyone during my decades of traveling.
That would take all the fun out of it..... plus my mother would have laughed.

We'll see what William Finnegan is all about.... I look forward to it.
Thanks eastie 

[SUPcheat]

Maybe it's because I am also reading "Fierce Heart" about the truly impoverished Hawaiian surfers of Makaha.  One of them was so poor, he was ridiculed because of the ad hoc shoes he wore to school.  He had to catch fish for the school cook to prepare if he wanted to eat lunch.  These guys never were able to step out of their neighborhoods unless they got corporate sponsorship. Also, the maintenance of the ancient traditions in adversity seems pretty impressive.

Contrast that with Finnegan, a show biz kid from LA.  Finnegan seems to be embarrassed by that.

There is only one brief passage where Finnegan, like squeezing a painful zit, talks about an old woman predicting he would be getting a check from his family.

A bare reference along the lines of: "I could have gotten a job with Dad's company anytime" or some such would have been refreshing, or at least I think so.

It doesn't undermine the quality of his boldness, intrepidness of his adventures or his talents as a writer, but the backstops available to him seemed conspicuous to me mainly by his avoidance of acknowledging them.