This just in. It should be a terrific evening!
Tomaž Šalamun, Aleš Debeljak, Andrew Zawacki, and Brian Henry
Sunday, March 4 @ 5:00 PM
The Bitter End, NYC
*Free*
147 Bleecker Street (btw. Thompson & LaGuardia)
For directions and info: www.speakeasynyc.com
Tomaž Šalamun has published thirty collections of poetry in Slovenian. His books of poems in English translation include Poker; The Selected Poems of Tomaž Šalamun; The Shepherd, the Hunter; The Four Questions of Melancholy; and Feast.
Aleš Debeljak has published six books of poems in Slovenian. His books of poems in English translation include Anxious Moments; Dictionary of Silence; The City and the Child; and the forthcoming Unended (translated with Andrew Zawacki). Debeljak is also a prolific editor, critic, and translator (of John Ashbery, among others).
Andrew Zawacki is the author of two books of poetry––Anabranch and By Reason of Breakings––as well as editor of the anthology Afterwards: Slovenian Writing 1945-1995 and co-editor of Verse.
Brian Henry is the author of four books of poetry––Astronaut, American Incident, Graft, and Quarantine––and co-editor of Verse.
Category Archives: On the Spot
NYC Event: Thomas Bernhard Jubilee at KGB (Dale Peck, Wayne Koestenbaum, &c.)
Welcome news about an event on Feb. 18 at which you will drink beer and Wayne Koestenbaum, Rhonda Lieberman, Ben Marcus, Geoffrey O’Brien, and Dale Peck will read from and discuss the Austrian novelist, playwright, and poet about whom Ruth Franklin wrote in The New Yorker in December: “The author of eleven novels and more than twenty plays, Bernhard had a well-deserved reputation as the country’s most provocative postwar writer: he spent his career alternately mocking and mourning Austria’s Nazi legacy, which, with typical bluntness, he once represented as a pile of manure on the stage.” From the event announcement:
A reading tribute to Thomas Bernhard
Sunday, February 18, 7:00 p.m.
KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th St. (between Bowery and 2nd Avenue), 2nd Floor
Free
contact: Jonathan Taylor, jonathandouglastaylor@gmail.com
Austrian novelist, playwright and poet Thomas Bernhard (1931–89) is not as widely read in the U.S. as he is throughout Europe, but here too, his influence among innovative writers is outsized. Gleefully embracing his role as Austria’s preeminent Nestbeschmutzer (“nest-fouler”), he embroidered his boundless dissatisfaction with existence into monologues that reach a comic fever pitch through relentless exaggeration, repetition and contradiction.
On Feb. 18 at KGB, a group of New York authors will read selections from Bernhard masterpieces including Old Masters, Correction, Yes and Gathering Evidence, and discuss their encounters with his work:
Wayne Koestenbaum has published five books of poetry, most recently Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films. His next book, Hotel Theory, will be published in spring 2007. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center, and currently also a Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Art.
Rhonda Lieberman, the only woman on this panel, is a New York-based writer, a Contributing Editor of Artforum, a Visiting Critic at the Yale School of Art, and a longtime admirer of Bernhard’s super-crabby oeuvre.
Ben Marcus is the author of The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women. He has published fiction and essays in Harper’s, The Paris Review, Tin House, McSweeney’s, and Conjunctions.
Geoffrey O’Brien is the author of Sonata for Jukebox, The Browser’s Ecstasy, and other books.
Dale Peck is a novelist and critic. His new novel, The Garden of Lost and Found, will be published this fall. His favorite Bernhard novels are Old Masters, Concrete, and Woodcutters, although not always in that order.
New York Event: A Very Crumby Valentine’s Day, Plus Jeffrey Goldberg
From the New York Public Library website (some boldface omitted):
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with ALINE KOMINSKY CRUMB in conversation with R. CRUMB: Need More Love
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
at 7:00 PM
Celeste Bartos Forum
…
Aline: We’ve been living and working together for thirty-five years. As I write this I’m astonished that we’re so old and that we actually still love each other. Who woulda’ thought, when we first met at a party at Robert’s girlfriend’s house, and he told me that I had “cute knees,” that we were about to embark on a life-time adventure together?
Bob: Yeah, who’d a’ thought?? She still has cute knees… and the only reason I’m doing this Valentine’s Day appearance at the NYPL this year is because Aline asked me to do it with her and I said “okay, I’ll do it as a Valentine’s Day gift to you, since I’ve never given you a gift before in our whole life, except for that t-shirt I bought for you in the early 80’s”… because, in fact, I hate doing public appearances… I’m becoming more and more of a hermit as I get older… but for Aline I’ll do it… don’t worry, it’ll be a riot… we’ll do our schtick… it’ll be very entertaining as opposed to intellectual and tedious.
Aline: Actually, all he has to do is ask me a few questions and I can go on for hours…I love to tell “all”. I’m compulsively honest… You’ll learn more about us than you would ever need to know. The hard job for Bob’ll be to shut me up and get me off the stage… Finally, I get to tell my side o’ the story!
Bob: That’s right… it’s all about promoting Aline’s big, new book, Need More Love!! Check it out… February 14, NYPL!
Aline: PS: I’ve got so many cute outfits. How am I gonna decide what to wear?!
Buy tickets here. And just in case you missed it, both Crumbs were recently profiled in the Times. In other New Yorker event news, Jeffrey Goldberg, who’s something of a card (I met him at the New Yorker Festival), is speaking on January 31, also in New York—Brooklyn, to be exact. (Via Jewcy, which has location and RSVP information).
Gravestones Are Forever, Plus Lillian Ross Pictures and More Allen Shawn
From Boston’s The Weekly Dig, a whole story about Drew Dernavich’s cartoons and tombstones. Didn’t know Dernavich engraved tombstones? Then you haven’t read this Boston Globe story about how the relatives of deceased Beantowners are up in arms over whimsical Boomer epitaphs like “The Happy Tomato” and “Who the hell is Sheila Shea,” and marble portraits that are less than Puritan. Dernavich is quoted there, but the new story’s a real profile:
“I’m not drawing in cartoony style. They’re like prints with captions,†Dernavich explains. “I’ve always been interested in printmaking and woodcuts. It makes sense to me. It feels natural. At first, I’d draw like this and think, ‘This isn’t a cartoon style.’ I tried to teach myself to draw cartoony; I guess I taught myself pretty badly. They all had this kind of schizophrenia—you’d have a realistic-looking pant leg with a cartoon head on top. It took a long time for me to figure out that your work doesn’t have to look like SpongeBob to be a cartoon…. I’ve always liked the stark black and white of the German expressionist printmakers, even though you’d never call that stuff humorous. Actually, it’s incredibly depressing—woodcuts of people hanging themselves. It’s very painful, but I love the stark look of it. I don’t know if that makes it any funnier. But I can draw a guy with a bulb nose and buck teeth, and that doesn’t make it funny, either. You don’t have to have a funny style if your material is good. You don’t need a laugh track—people can figure out what’s funny on their own.â€
Also, in re dead people, happy birthday, Robert Burns. Not at all in re dead people: The MoMA is having a film tribute to Lillian Ross from February 23-28, and the Times has a nice profile of Allen Shawn.
Disciples of Marx, Children of Adam
As far more organized chroniclers Ron Hogan and the preternaturally poised Rachel Sklar have already reported, Adam Gopnik and Patricia Marx read (but mostly shot the breeze—they’re close friends and live 53 steps away from each other in the same building) at the 92nd St. Y last night. They also made many new friends, game as they were to mingle among a gaggle of bloggers who, accustomed to explaining basic terminology to befuddled literati, were instead treated to cheese plates, giant blackberries, prime seats, and “Welcome, bloggers!”
I didn’t have a chance to meet everybody; could we have nametags next time, Andrew? Dorky, yes, but blogging is definitely dorky, so we might as well go whole hog. Missing from those lists of the writers and sitemakers present, by the way, were Newyorkette, a.k.a. New Yorker cartoonist Carolita Johnson; Kesher Talk‘s Judith Weiss; the soulful Austin Kelley, editor of the elegantly illustrated and smartly written Modern Spectator (a “literary sports journal” that would do Audax Minor proud); and future multiplatform creator Olivia, co-star of Bumping Into Mr. Ravioli. She’s cute as a button.
Marx was as funny as I expected her to be from her Q. & A. with Nancy Franklin recently; she read “Audio Tour,” and I suddenly remembered having actually reported something: What happens when you call the phone number (212-399-4838) in the story? Gopnik was garrulous, enthusiastic (during our conversation, he spoke glowingly of Katha Pollitt, Calvin Trillin‘s reportage, Trillin’s U.S. Journal, A.J. Liebling, NYC eccentrics of yore [“Now they all have agents and websites”], and the New Yorker librarians), a bit of a dandy (his wife, Martha, is a glamourpuss herself), and extremely charming. He’d been reading at Sundance—there are readings at Sundance now, apparently—and, during the talk, read from an original copy of an old New Yorker and did several impersonations. Marx seemed like a sparkle-eyed, wisecracking dame of the old school, with the attendant tender heart. PM: “Do you have anything dark to say?” AG: “I’m a perpetually sunny person.”
Friday Afternoon Guest Review: Hot Dog! A Calvin Trillin Reading
Martin Schneider, our trusty Squib Reporter, reports from a Calvin Trillin reading last week at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble. Trillin read from from his new book, About Alice (about whose prospects we hear Random House is very excited, incidentally), just for starters.
One of the few posts on my old blog, Between the Squibs, was about Trillin. See, Trillin’s a bit stealthy: His basic persona is of an avuncular, curmudgeonly Keillor type, and almost as a sidelight, he’s the best goddamned reporter in the country. If you have the Complete New Yorker DVD, I really recommend spending a week or two with his “U.S. Journal” entries. You’ll thank me.
Anyway. I realized listening to him on Friday that one reason I love Trillin is that he represents the premise that The New Yorker and Middle America aren’t separate entities that need to be “bridged”; I love the lack of self-consciousness with which he would likely present himself as a New Yorker correspondent to, say, the proprietor of a Cincinnati chili stand.
The New Yorker must, of course, define itself as the best of a certain kind of thing, but it’s even better when it sees itself as obviously “of” America rather than in any way in opposition to it. To me, that’s exactly what Trillin represents—The New Yorker immersed in the country, not aloof from it.
Wisely, Trillin didn’t read exclusively from the book, but instead read a selection of short pieces in which Alice figures and then the first (brief) chapter of About Alice. In one he talks about how much he hates his highly organized neighbor Elwood; one was from his “Uncivil Liberties” column at The Nation, about how the de la Rentas never invite him to their fashionable soirées (from the early 1980s; when Francoise de la Renta does finally call, he calls himself “Calvin of the Trillin”); one was a fine poem from The New Yorker called “Just How Do You Suppose That Alice Knows?” My favorite was about how vacationing in the countryside is irksome because the tangible reality of the life of the land renders all-too-literal so many of the cliches that we use (like “a long row to hoe”). The excerpt from About Alice was excellent, of course.
I rarely ask questions at these events, but a good one occurred to me. I asked what his last meal at Shopsin’s was. I was hoping to get a little insight into Shopsin’s last days, some juicy tidbit or some bit of business that he could never disclosed while the restaurant was still in operation. Somewhat surprised at the question, he instead avowed that he could not recall what his last Shopsin’s concoction was and took a moment to explain the restaurant to the assembled, quoting himself to the effect that their Burmese Hummus was neither hummus nor Burmese.
I also only occasionally have books signed, but, finding myself towards the front of the audience and hence without long to wait, this time I did. The older lady in front of me pointed out that Trillin “never smiles,” which was true—except when he was actually signing the books and interacting with his readers. When I got home I realized that my used copy of Uncivil Liberties is also inscribed.
Oh—never let it be said that Emdashes doesn’t break the big stories. [No, indeed! —Ed.] A woman seated in the row behind me handed me a flier. Trillin’s A Heckuva Job (“deadline poetry” from The Nation) has apparently been set to music by the composer Tom Flaherty and will be performed by the Speculum Musicae Monday, January 29, at 8 p.m., at Merkin Concert Hall.
Bud Y? Because Trillin’s Speaking at the 92nd St. Y This Weekend
And even sooner at 192 Books, namely, tomorrow at 7 p.m. You may need to reserve your seat; give them a call just in case.
Meanwhile, here’s where to buy tickets for the Y event, which I’m really excited about:
Mark Singer, interviewer
Calvin Trillin became the “deadline poet†at The Nation in 1990. He has written verses on current events for The New Yorker, The New York Times and National Public Radio. His books on eating—American Fried; Alice, Let’s Eat; and Third Helpings—are considered classics. He is also known for his nonfiction books, such as Remembering Denny, Killings and, most recently, About Alice. His comic novels and commentary works include Tepper Isn’t Going Out, Obliviously on He Sails and A Heckuva Job.
Mark Singer is a staff writer at The New Yorker.
Date & Time: Sun, Jan 14, 2007, 7:30 pm
Location: Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street Directions
Venue: Kaufmann Concert Hall Seating Chart
Code: T-LC5CA05-01
Price: $25.00 All Sections
Meanwhile, unrelated to events, I agree, come back, Drunken Volcano New Yorker haiku! The precocious, engaging Jacob Thomas talks about art and covers. Blogger, football follower, and fact-checker Paul Smalera thinks there are factual errors (unnecessary roughness?) in Adam Gopnik’s football story, “The Unbeautiful Game,” from last week (not online). Finally, the unassailable Nancy Franklin talks to the cheeky Patricia Marx in a web-only Q. & A.
San Francisco Event: Rejection Collection Show at the Cartoon Art Museum
From the SF Chronicle:
A current exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco affirms that something good can, indeed, come from rejection. “The Rejection Collection: Not in the New Yorker Cartoons,” which runs through mid-March, features 30 single-panel cartoons that got no bites when submitted to the magazine.
A cartoon graveyard of sorts, the exhibition showcases those cast-aside gems that “never see the light of day,” says Matthew Diffee, 36, the show’s curator and a prolific contributor to the magazine.
…
For each weekly issue, the New Yorker receives at least 500 cartoons but can accept only about 20. That means every year, thousands of cartoons are cast aside, many deemed too risque, silly or just plain weird for a mainstream publication. Read on.
Some Journalists Got Into the Anna Politkovskaya Event on Wednesday
(Update: A recording of the event is now a PEN podcast.) But I was not one of them (my own fault for being late!); nor was a woman from an independent TV station in China, some folks from the AP, or some sad Russians, because the event was so packed fire laws prevented PEN from being able to let more people in. What a shame! Although, the world being what it is, there’s a lot to be said for things like fire laws. Here’s a report on the evening from Radio Free Europe. From that piece:
David Remnick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and editor of the “The New Yorker” magazine, noted that her celebrated reputation in the West was a distinct contrast from her reputation at home in Russia.
“It was one of the great ironies, not unexpected under the circumstances, that she would receive all her awards that I can think of in the West, particularly in the United States,” he said. “So, she had this bifurcated life of coming to the Waldorf-Astoria, whatever hotel ballroom in New York, or Paris, or London, to receive accolades for her bravery, for her prose, and her passion. And then she would return home to be vilified by her government.”
SF Event: Mixing Babies and Drinks With Lisa Brown
From that medley of scamps at McSweeney’s:
San Francisco: This Wednesday, December 6th, Candystore will be hosting a reading, signing, and various slide-show projections with Evany Thomas (The Secret Language of Sleep) and Lisa Brown (the Baby Be of Use series). There will be Baby Mix Me a Drink-inspired cocktails, snacks of all kinds, store discounts, and other merriment.
SAN FRANCISCO
Wednesday, December 6
7-9pm
Candystore
3153 16th Street (at Valencia)
San Francisco, CA
www.candystore-sf.com