Last night I went to an event at the library with John Irving. Chloe joined me and made it to downtown just as the event was starting. Last time Irving was in town was ten years ago promoting Until I Find You, we were at that event and it was in the same theater. Chloe brought her copy of Garp and in it was her ticket from the last time. Synergy.
Although the event got off to somewhat of a rocky start, the interviewer seemed a bit dull and self involved, it quickly gained momentum. After the perfunctory reading Irving seemed to come alive, energized and talkative, he was gracious, comfortable, playful, and comically prickly, much more so then last time I saw him. He was more at ease and seemed to be relishing the performative aspect of the evening. He disparaged critics, expressed frustration with the progress of sexual politics, provided some reading recommendations, explained the somewhat ethereal process of where his characters come from, discussed his love of the theatre and how it informed his writing process, and even recited some King Lear and Richard III.
After his somewhat jarring introduction the interviewer was excellent, he asked Irving the right questions to get him talking and didn't interrupt, didn't back track to get his question precisely answered, created a place for Irving to talk at length about whatever he wanted to talk about, which is what we were all there to see. An inspiring evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment