{"id":508,"date":"2026-01-10T12:22:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T17:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=508"},"modified":"2026-01-10T12:22:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T17:22:38","slug":"dayswork-bachelder-and-habel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=508","title":{"rendered":"Dayswork (Bachelder and Habel)"},"content":{"rendered":"

My favorite in 2026 so far!<\/h4>\n
\n

Dayswork<\/span> presents itself as a \u201cnovel,\u201d but it\u2019s really a <\/span>hybrid<\/span>: part pandemic-day diary, part marriage portrait, part research notebook, part literary criticism, and part biographical collage focused on <\/span>Herman Melville<\/span>. It’s a <\/span>sharp, funny critique of literary sainthood.<\/span> By juxtaposing Melville-myth with domestic detail and scholarly apologetics, the book keeps asking who gets protected by the legend of Great Art\u2014and who gets minimized.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Melville\u2019s artistic drive and domestic costs come into focus, the narrator\u2019s own home life does too. The research becomes a way to ask: <\/span>What does devotion to art cost? Who pays? What counts as \u201cwork\u201d inside a marriage?<\/span> And what does it mean to build a life around someone else\u2019s \u201cgreatness\u201d\u2014whether that someone is a canonical author, or a spouse with needs, habits, and claims on your time?<\/span><\/p>\n

Dayswork<\/span> is one of those books that argues\u2014quietly but insistently\u2014that <\/span>thinking is an action<\/span> and <\/span>attention is labor<\/span>. It turns \u201cresearch\u201d into a moral and marital practice: to study someone\u2019s life is to confront how stories get made, defended, and paid for.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A few quotes:<\/h4>\n

“Melville teaches the writer who would write about him, that fate isn’t something that happens to us. Rather, we are fate. We are destiny.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

“[H]e never sat still in one seat for long, but moved about trying every place of vantage.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning I discovered a list\u2026 of the ten writers most likely to put you to sleep.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Moby Dick is a long book\u2026 It practically drives other books out of the way.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Melville\u2019s daughter never forgave him.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband doesn\u2019t ask for much. He requires a lot, but he doesn\u2019t ask for much.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My favorite in 2026 so far! Dayswork presents itself as a \u201cnovel,\u201d but it\u2019s really a hybrid: part pandemic-day diary, part marriage portrait, part research notebook, part literary criticism, and part biographical collage focused on Herman Melville. It’s a sharp, funny critique of literary sainthood. By juxtaposing Melville-myth with domestic detail and scholarly apologetics, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193664754,"featured_media":498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1376],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Dayswork.jpg?fit=343%2C522&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgfYCB-8c","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":427,"url":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=427","url_meta":{"origin":508,"position":0},"title":"I promessi sposi, The Betrothed (Manzoni)","author":"Old Griffy","date":"January 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Betrothed follows Renzo and Lucia, a young couple in 1600s Lombardy, whose planned marriage is thwarted by the powerful Don Rodrigo. Forced to flee, they navigate numerous dangers, including kidnapping, political unrest, and the plague in Milan, ultimately overcoming these challenges to reunite and marry.\u00a0 \"Love each other as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?cat=1376"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Betrothed.jpg?fit=348%2C522&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/193664754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}