New York novelists on the dirtiest word in contemporary fiction: experimental:
Novelists Joshua Cohen, Rivka Galchen, and Heidi Julavits gathered this week to discuss the implications of "experimental fiction," why it's such a dirty word in the literary world, and if it exists in the first place.
Bio: Molly Fischer has written for The New York Observer and the New York Daily News.
“Most people think of themselves, in a sense, as realists,” Galchen said, “even if they have speaking dogs in the book.” Julavits reiterated the point that authors themselves often misjudge how their work will be read. “Someone once told me they were talking to Diane Williams and she was just really surprised that people didn’t think of her in the same breath as Jane Austen,” Julavits said. “I sort of loved that as a really sweet misapprehension of what you think you’re doing versus how other people perceive what you’re doing.” More
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on January 18th, 2013 5:30pm“When I started at [Upright Citizens Brigade], I thought it was going to be, ‘Oh, I’m going to take levels one through three … and then I’ll audition for 'Saturday Night Live,' and then I’ll get a movie deal, and then I’ll have my own show’… I was so clueless! I thought that there was a formula; I thought there was a quick fix; I thought that I was going to be taken care of in institutional terms.” More
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on December 12th, 2012 9:00amEdmund White had prepared hypothetical Shteyngart blurbs for Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies. And Mein Kampf: “Proves that left to their own devices, blondes really do have more fun,” White read.
As for body hair, the night’s other comic motif, Crosley briefly obliged Harding’s request for mockery. “The hair,” she said. “It’s sort of like his nipples are like buttons on a fur coat.” More
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on November 21st, 2012 12:20pm“She came from the advertising industry,” Tkacik said of Brown. “They have a lot more stuff to sell to women if they don't just get knocked up at 22.” “I have a text from Jane Pratt,” said Marnell, producing her phone and reading. “’Say that I got a wonderful bisexual vibe from Helen the first time I met her when I was like 25.” “It’s clear when someone’s trying to be honest about their life and what they believe in,” Zimmerman said. “When you just try to be as straightforward as you can about your experience in the attempt to maybe reach some other people and not alienate too many others—I don’t know, I respect that.” More
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on October 24th, 2012 12:36pm“All of us, one way or another in our statements have been saying ‘We disagree with the question,’” Kraus said, summarizing the brief opening essays each panelist had read. “To turn this into a topic is to just reinforce the otherness and the marginalization of female writers.” Fortunately, though, Kraus herself later offered a strong rejoinder. “If you’re being forced into a marginal and other position as a speaker and a writer, then you have no choice but to write and to speak from that position." More
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on October 16th, 2012 2:28pmOver the past couple of years, along with the esophageal close calls, Karpovsky has established himself as an indie film fixture with his writing, directing, and acting. He’s also become recognizable to a mainstream audience thanks to a regular role on HBO’s Girls (he plays the increasingly likable jerk Ray Ploshansky), and he’ll be in the Coen brothers’ next movie, Inside Llewyn Davis. Right now, Karpovsky is promoting his own most recent film, Red Flag—which he wrote, directed, and stars in—as well as Stephen Gurewitz’s Marvin Seth and Stanley, in which he stars. More
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on October 4th, 2012 1:20pmThe Corner Bookstore’s jewel-box scale required Norton to stand behind the counter for her reading, nestled between a vase of pink foxgloves and an antique cash register. She began with thank-yous, then repeated some wisdom from her friend Susan Cheever. “Nobody’s really interested in the reading, they just want to hear gossip.” In that spirit, I’ll summarize: Yes, Norton’s mother once sent out a naked family Christmas card photo. Yes, she threw “a lot of epic parties, ” including one construction-themed gathering that featured strippers in tool belts. She also tried to take her children to Studio 54. More
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on September 20th, 2012 12:47pmFall Preview 2012: Books, including recommendations from New York's independent booksellers. More
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on August 28th, 2012 12:19pm“Whatever E.L. James’s unconscious is doing, she understands this need for women to want to be taken care of and to trade gifts for abuse,” Jong continued. “So on that level, there’s something psychologically true here, even though the book is a piece of shit.” More
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on July 27th, 2012 11:15am“It’s really interesting to have your characters tell you that you did it wrong,” Heti said, acknowledging Williamson’s collaboration on the book. “It’s really useful.” Heti read from her book’s prologue. The line “these are my fucking contemporaries!” earned the biggest laugh, from an audience of Heti’s contemporaries. “Maybe I’ll answer a few questions and then we’ll go back to lining up for beers,” Heti said after she had finished. The first question, alas, was not a question; it was a command to “talk more about” the difficulty of male-female relationships. More
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on June 20th, 2012 11:25am
