Stewart Gardiner praises the structurally audacious biography / autobiography of David Lynch

At one point in Room to Dream, Kristine McKenna mentions the “narrative minimalism” of Eraserhead, which is a perfectly evocative term. She has already described the directness and clearness of David Lynch’s screenwriting style, noting that “the Eraserhead script has the rigor and exactitude of a Beckett play.” Both statements are about what they imply: the details. Eraserhead was an all-consuming exercise in building a universe from the ground up, its creator compelled to make every detail count, whether it would eventually appear on screen or not. It is a lived in universe unlike any other; Lynch and his small cast and crew almost literally lived in that universe for the years it took to make. The circumstances around the creation of his other films / works / worlds may differ, but the attention to the seemingly small things has hardly wavered, Dune being the exception that went on to prove the rule.

So what about the details of Lynch’s own life? There will be particular stories and facts in Room to Dream that are familiar to devotees. But Lynch has been opening up more about his own life of late, as was particularly evident in the recent documentary The Art Life. That went more in depth than, say, Lynch on Lynch in certain directions. Room to Dream goes considerably further however, and takes us right up to the present day. There is significant new material here and fresh takes on the extant information. Even before getting to the new stuff, Room to Dream does a wonderful job of putting it all under one roof.

Although the authors make it clear from the start that this is not an exegesis of Lynch’s body of work, McKenna’s summaries of the films are masterclasses in capturing their spirit, abstract drive and endless appeal in succinct dispatches. Lynch is then freed to give his thoughts as they come to him and as he sees fit. It’s a very fine combination, and one comes away from the pages feeling that one understands Lynch a tiny bit more. Not too much of course, for Lynch is a mystery that isn’t meant to be cracked or decoded.

Room to Dream

McKenna is the disciplined biographer to Lynch’s free-form autobiographer. Hers is an external viewpoint constructed meticulously from interviews of family, friends and colleagues. Lynch went through McKenna’s chapters, correcting anything that needed correcting and then responded to that biographical chapter of his life. “What you’re reading here,” goes the joint introduction, “is basically a person having a conversation with his own biography.” In narrative terms, or at least Lynchian narrative terms, that’s a little like the development of Mulholland Drive from rejected television pilot to 21st century-defining cinematic masterpiece. It makes for a unique reading experience; more experimental novel than straight up biography. Which is most welcome and entirely appropriate.

McKenna notes near the beginning that “Lynch does reference his childhood in his work, but his creative drive and the things he’s produced can’t be explained with a simple equation.” She continues: “You can dissect someone’s childhood searching for clues that explain the person the child grew up to be, but more often than not there is no inciting incident, no Rosebud.” Lynch wraps things up by stating that, “It’s impossible to really tell the story of somebody’s life, and the most we can hope to convey here is a very abstract ‘Rosebud.’”

Room to Dream

I don’t believe Lynchians will be going into Room to Dream looking for revelatory, possibly salacious content. It does shed more light on his personal life however – or at least pulls fragments together and adds missing pieces to tell a continuing story – and the women who have featured in Lynch’s life are given room to speak. It is often just as interesting what Lynch doesn’t say and where he doesn’t say it. As a result, Room to Dream doesn’t feel like a closed-ended piece, but rather a living document. It’s an endlessly fascinating work that invites multiple readings, although not exactly in the way that Lynch’s films do. In simple terms, you may find yourself wanting to read it over again and it makes for an incredible resource for the dedicated Lynchian. The details aren’t always on the page, but are still there nonetheless, and every one of them counts.

Room to Dream by David Lynch and Kristine McKenna is published by Canongate in the UK.

Stewart Gardiner
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