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This past week
The
Center for Fiction (founded back in 1820 as the
Mercantile Library
& mentioned briefly in my
April 18th post) brought
together
Richard
Ford &
Joyce Carol Oates
for a reading from their new novels – Ford’s
Canada & Oates’s
Mudwoman – and for a one-on-one, unmediated literary and, at
times, deeply personal discussion. The event
did not take place (as usual) at The Center for Fiction on East 47
th
St. but, rather, at
John Jay College’s Lynch Theater at 10
th
Ave. & 59
th St.(a much larger venue), in partnership for this
occasion with The City University of New York (CUNY).
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Ford read the first chapter of
Canada
because, he said, he wouldn’t have to provide a lot of context as he would if
he read from somewhere in the middle of the volume; Oates read the final
chapter of
Mudwoman
because most authors who engage in public readings read from somewhere
in the middle and she simply wanted to offer the attentive audience an initial
dose of something, well, different. The
two authors, obviously friends for a number of years, discussed their books
(past & present); their writing styles; issues surrounding the writing of fiction (at
times underscoring the distinction from writing in the memoir form); how they
began writing fiction; relationships between the novel, the longer form, and
the short story; and bits and pieces of a number of personal details from their
very different backgrounds.
The discussion proved to be an extremely honest, spontaneous
and enlightening session of a kind that is rarely heard or witnessed between
fiction writers – with no interviewer present to pose the typical mechanical
questions – and in front of a large and utterly engaged audience. One is rarely privy to this sort of
one-on-one interaction on stage. Ford,
for example, revealed to Ms. Oates that he thought he’d become a police officer
(following some time put in at law school) long before he became a novelist and
Oates told a story about her mother having been cast away from her own family
simply because they were dirt poor and had too many children. The revelation, on her part, had obviously had
a major impact on her life and work; she provided several details around and
about the separation, explaining that, for her, engaging routinely in the
writing of fiction tended to mitigate any feelings of loneliness she might have
at a given moment.
The evening seemed to be a great success, as if we audience
members (all fans of the two writers) were simply observing, indeed
eavesdropping on, two colleagues chatting rather informally about themselves – about
aspects of their lives and their work. The discussion went on for approximately
an hour and ½ and there was little time for more than one or two questions from
the audience floor. Also, really, a very
good thing!
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We’d heard much advertising (on
NPR,
WNYC,
and elsewhere) about “
Monet’s
Garden,” the new show at
The New York Botanical Garden (sponsored by
the
MetLife Foundation), so we planned a Sunday trip up to The Bronx for
an afternoon visit. There is a rich garden “path” in the
Conservatory
filled with a profusion of plants and flowers of all sorts and all colors,
actually a fairly narrow section of the building, aiming to duplicate a portion
of Monet’s actual garden at
Giverny;
and there are a few of Monet’s paintings (barely a handful) and photos (maybe a
dozen, or so) of Monet at Giverny housed in the
Mertz Library (in a small
gallery on the 6
th floor). But, aside from the short (but lush) garden path; a lily pond recalling those
Monet maintained at Giverny; a few films about Monet, including his profound
interest in food and dining; a batch of
French
Symbolist poems (Verlaine, Mallarme, Rimbaud &
Baudelaire) scattered,
mostly, on small “billboards” around and about the path between the Leon Levy Visitor
Center and the Conservatory (best poem: "Evening Harmony," from Baudelaire's
Les Fleurs du mal,1857); and the "
Monet Evenings" featuring water lily
concerts – there
is little to explore that will truly blow you away
a la the
Dale Chihuly
sculpture show mounted just a few years ago (in 2006).
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Following a very pleasant – but not terribly exciting –
afternoon at The Botanical Garden in The Bronx, we made our way back to Manhattan
(the
Flatiron area, around 5
th Ave. & 23
rd St.) in search of the
Silk Rd Tavern,
Andrew Lee’s hot new pan-Asian eatery
located at 46 West 22
nd (between 5
th & 6
th
Aves.). Unfortunately, the restaurant
was closed, although the printed schedule on the front door indicated that it
ought to have been open. (Not a major problem
in NYC; we’d simply planned to return on another occasion.) Fortunately, however, we discovered –
actually
re-discovered –
Eataly,
the relatively new center (several interconnected shop spaces at 5
th
and 23
rd) for all things Italian and artisanal. We sampled the
gelati – absolutely
superb
… creamy & soft, thick & flavorful (the cocoanut, the hazelnut!). We will, indeed, frequent this cavernous center
for cheeses, coffee, cooking ingredients, pastas & in-house restos (e.g.,
the new
Pranzo
(open for lunch with a $25. 2-course prix fixe) … and much, much more! Products of
Sicilia are being showcased
right now, through July 15
th. Do plan a visit and have a good look around ...
Buona fortuna!
Curious why there are no comments on this blog post? Surely the content ought to have attracted some comments ...
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting & helpful outlet for inexpensive cultural and gastronomic activity offered to your readers on a pretty regular basis.
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