How about Robert Caro in that area??!! I think he takes 5 to 10 years for each of the books he has written on Lyndon Johnson?Totally agree. I would also add a #3: Fiction authors can have a tendency to lose their edge or get bored with their subject matter or characters.2 things.
1) Truth is stranger than fiction
2) If you like a certain topic in nonfiction you can endlessly pursue it. With fiction you are subject to whether or not the author creates any more and when.
I won't name names, but I can think of more than a couple of authors whose first novels were terrific. After a while, their work really diminished; the plots became plodding, formulaic, and numbingly predictable, the characters became superficial and one dimensional, etc. The phrase "mailing it in" seemed appropriate for the later submissions.
Of course, a non-fiction author's work can diminish too, but I can't think of anyone offhand who falls into that category. Instead, if they have a fault, it's that they fall behind schedule in completing their books. For example, I remember Ian Toll's third installment of his Pacific War Trilogy was a couple of years late. Rick Atkinson wrote the first volume of his Revolution Trilogy, The British Are Coming, more than five years ago, but I have not heard a word about when to expect the second book.
But we are not held captive to only what he writes about Johnson. There are an endless amount of other books on Johnson that we can read.
Statistics: Posted by vnatale — Sat Jun 15, 2024 9:48 pm — Replies 7886 — Views 1795893