A list:
Great reading by Colson Whitehead. He opened by saying, “Normally on Fridays, I spend the afternoon weeping over my failures and regrets, so this is a nice change.” He then read a segment of his novel Sag Harbor, which he claimed was s book where absolutely nothing happened. Colson is a noted fan of the critically lauded but short lived show, Hello Larry, from the late seventies, early eighties. After the reading, he spent several hours reading through scripts from the show with conference members at the edge of the stage. Much laughter was heard throughout the hall.
This from Richard Bausch, during a panel: “Writers who don’t have doubt probably don’t have much talent.” A huge collective sigh rippled through the audience, every member relieved to know that their own crippling doubt was not an isolated incident.
This heard from Juno Diaz: “Every writer who finishes a novel is either full of self-loathing, or thinking, ‘this is the shit.’” Later, someone asked Diaz why he felt the need to swear so much and Diaz spoke about “taking off the mask when talking about art.” The culture of respectability, he explained, kept people trapped behind language/decorum that covered the real truths. The same culture of respectability, he said, that kept people from swearing in front of large groups because it was wrong/not respectable was the same culture that kept generations of people from acknowledging far uglier truths, such as “daddy is out back raping the slaves.” When one is forced by ceremony to speak in a way unnatural to themselves, they become protectors not only of “polite society” but also of the underbelly of things. To get at the truth, he said, one must remove the masks. Then he read a story of Alma, who had a beautiful ass. Then he told us to fuck off, but lovingly.
Jennifer Egan read a chapter from her latest book A Visit From the Goon Squad. There’s no joke here. It was just fantastic. It was wonderful to see her read and to get to meet her. Whenever I read Egan, I want to write more. I’d like to write something that affects a reader the way Egan’s last two books have affected me. She writes so good I feel like I’m coming unglued.
I spoke to dozens of independent presses and editors of literary reviews. These are people that keep our literary world alive. Walking through the book fair, I couldn’t help but think that the people gathered there were most likely not only the largest group of writers one could hope to find in this country, but also the largest group of readers. With fewer and fewer people reading things of literary quality each day, I felt encouraged by the sheer scope and enthusiasm of the crowd. People walking around with armfuls of books. Poets shouting drunkenly across the aisles. Fiction writers like Tod Goldberg dressed in black and pondering the existential loss of losing. Everyone seriously interested in BOOKS. WORDS. SENTENCES. STANZAS. ART.
For my last post, tomorrow, I’ll scan the covers of some of the books I bought while there. They deserve recognition.
