I

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Ive noticed a strange thing

• A literary theory
• By Joseph Skibell

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Hello, Im Joseph Skibell
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Recently a student of mine told me that her
mother had logged onto our colleges website and
had seen a picture of me there.
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This is that picture
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Why, your professor looks just like
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Hugh Grant, the mother said.
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Its a flattering comparison, I suppose,

• but in truth, its nothing I havent heard many
  times before.

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Of course, Im sure no one ever says to Hugh
Grant, You know, Hugh, you look just like that
writer Joseph Skibell.
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But thats okay, because lately Ive noticed a
strange thing. A lot of best-selling writers seem
to resemble famous people from non-literary
professions.
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Tony Earley, for instance, the author of Jim the
Boy
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looks just like

• Anthony Edwards from ER.

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Earley could win an Anthony Edwards Look-Alike
Contest.
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And my theory is that this gives the reader an
extra little thrill, as though he or she were
reading a novel by Dr. Mark Greene, Edwards
character on ER, scratched out between patients
in the emergency room.
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There are more examples Am I the only one who
noticed that short-story writer Nathan Englander
looks a lot like
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Roger Daltry?
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I cant help wondering
if Englanders readers experience a subliminal
pleasure imaging theyre reading a book by the
singer of the Who.
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Theres a kind of Separated-At-Birth syndrome at
play here, I think.
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Michael Ondaatje does sort of look like
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Peter Ustinov.
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And, as Tom Wolfe points out in his Electric Acid
Kool-Aid Test, Ken Kesey did look a bit like
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Paul Newman.
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Put glasses on J.K. Rowling
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and she resembles John Lennon!
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• It doesnt even have to be a real person.

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Jonathan Franzen
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looks like Clark Kent.
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The philosopher Ken Wilber
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like Mr. Clean.
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Some writers look like other writers.
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The playwright Naomi Wallace

• .

looks like the playwright Sam Shepard.
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And there are some writers who dont have to look
like successful people from other professions,
because they themselves have been successful in
other professions.
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As a movie star, Sam Shepard looks more or less
like Sam Shepard the writer.

Writer
Movie Star
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The same is true for Wallace Shawn.

• Actor Writer

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Leonard Cohen the poet/novelist resembles Leonard
Cohen the singer/songwriter.

• author photo album cover

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Although Cohen also looks like Israeli novelist
Amos Oz
(Or is it the other way around?)
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You cant tell me their success as actors or
singers doesnt help to sell their literary work.

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Or that the glamour of actors like Rupert Everett
or Ethan Hawke doesnt carry over from their
films when they look for an audience for the
novels they write.
(Both these men are novelists.)
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So, all Im saying is, as you browse through your
bookstore, if you happen to pick up one of my
novels, I hope, while youre looking at the
authors photo, youll vaguely, almost
imperceptibly, recall all the joy Ive given you
over the years
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in films like About A Boy, Bridget Jones
Diary, and of course, Four Weddings and a Funeral.
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A Blessing on the MoonandThe English
Diseaseby Joseph Skibellare published by
Algonquin Booksand are available at fine
bookstores everywhere.