There is a Joni Mitchell live album called
Miles of Aisles, recorded while she was on tour in 1974. Caught on the recording is her response in a slightly Dylan-esque posture to the crowd’s wild chanting for a particular number. She complains that other artists don’t have to deal with this kind of crap: “Nobody ever said to Van Gogh, ‘Paint a
Starry Night again, man!’ ” I think she’s wrong, though. The anticipation for Rachel Cusk’s new novel,
Second Place, has been as close to feverish as we get in certain circles, and it is in part because Cusk answers the call to “paint a