Ask the Dust, by John Fante.... here are some questions.

When Rory and the old man meet in the park, the old man asks him what he's reading. Ask the Dust, Rory says, and the old man replies: ah, John Fante.

So they talk a bit about Fante, and the old man confides he actually knew the now forgotten author.

Then the discussion goes somewhat like this:

The Old Man: He should've been somebody everyone knows.
Rory Jansen: Yeah... but what happened?
The Old Man: Life.

This is very strange indeed. When is this story supposed to be taking place?
Because John Fante (who died in 1983) was given a Lifetime Achievement Award in1987, when his books were rediscovered and his craftsmanship was recognized as one of the finest writers of his generation.

Also, and this I find fascinating, why did they choose this particular book? Rory could have been reading any old book, the role of Fante has no bearing on the story. Except, and one can only know this when one has read Ask the Dust, that book is about Arturo Bandini, a young man in post-depression America who is struggling to become a writer but time and time again hits a writer block, can't think of what to write about... in short, he is in a way Rory's predecessor.

I wonder if this is just a coincidence, or did the scriptwriter know his classics and wove this into the story, only to amuse those who know the book?

A riddle, and I love it.

By the way: Ask the Dust is truly one of the great American novels. John Fante admittedly was of immense influence to Charlesa Bukowski and I dare wonder if Jack Kerouac has found some inspiration there....