Yesterday I spent a full day at Bard with the great experimental writer Mary Caponegro, a hero of mine, who I teach year after year. I highly recommend reading her (more here coffeehousepress.org/authors/mary-caponegro/) But it was especially inspiring to talk about books and publishing with her. Mary is an icon to some of us and she is someone who has never chased money, fame, prestige. She doesnt care about bestseller lists, magazine coverage, fancy features, book clubs, high-profile reviews. She doesnt even expect sales or a real audience. She writes for those few people who really get her--they also happen to be the people who REALLY read and care about books on a whole other level: original thinkers, genuine iconoclasts, true-blue weirdos. Our talks yesterday served as a potent reminder to block out the hype and brush off the glitter--usually other peoples--and get lost in the dream of the work, the real stuff, the stuff they cant even sell. She and Can Xue and Christine Schutt and Diane Williams and Lydia Davis and my dear friends Deb Olin Unferth and Kate Zambreno, are among those women writers I really look up to. I have to commit myself, like them, to putting blinders on when all the bad-taste hype and hoopla for those that dont know better--dont want to know better actually--swirls around these parts, and take firm refuge in the beautiful fringes. Its where the real freedom is, for real artists. More than a few times, Mary thanked her blessings for being under the radar. Im realizing more and more that its the only place to be.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 13:32:17 +0000
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