Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Varieties of Disturbance

Last night I went to a Lydia Davis reading at B&N. If you know me, and if we've ever talked books, then you know about my love of this ex-wife of another personal favorite. In my (limited) experience, Davis, whom I first discovered at a Hugo House author event back in the day, presents herself publically in a way that's similar to how she writes: precisely. Last night this was especially evident during the Q&A segment, w/ Davis responding to each question w/ great care, everything out of her mouth so ordered and purposeful. Satisfying to listen to. She did, once or twice, go on a bit long, which I initially read as nerves/anxiety, but really I think she's just thorough--in person and in writing.

Oh, at one point she mentioned being recently inspired by a writer, Russell Edson. Anyone know about him? I'll definitely have to look into this.

So the evening closed w/ a few tears--given my recent track record, hardly surprising. This time, though, they came earlier than I would've liked, as in, while I was standing in front of Davis as she signed my book. I was at the tail end of my monologue (gist: 'I recently finished The End of the Story, and having just ended a long-term relationship, it was the absolute best thing I could've read--beautiful, thank you') when I just sorta lost it, my half-gone voice (sick! bleh) breaking, trailing off. She looked up and gave me a sweet 'I'm glad to hear that,' which was followed by some unsolicited commentary from the B&N employee standing beside her ('yes, I think we would all agree, think we've all thought that'/me in my head: shutup, this is my moment). Afterward, heading to the train, a wave of relief. I'd really wanted to say what I did.

I capped the evening w/ a swing by my new favorite watering hole: this place, where I cracked my new book over a pint of nut brown lager. It was nice.

Posted by princess kanomanom @ 4:54 PM