The second part of this blog entry is about the authors I met the final day of the annual Pordenone Legge (“Pordenone Reads”) book festival in northeastern Italy. In my last post I talked about how this festival has grown over the years. This was the 19th festival, so look for the event in September 2019 to be one for the ages!
David Litt is interviewed at a bar. This is Italy.
Here are the authors I met on Sunday.
Lisa Halliday
Ms. Halliday is an American living in Milan, Italy where she works as a writer, editor and translator. She also worked for years in New York – you guessed it – in the publishing business.
Lisa Halliday at her press conference.
She was introducing the Italian translation of her first novel, “Asymmetry.” It is an interesting work, divided into three separate parts. The first two are (at initial glance) completely unrelated, but the third is meant to provide a bridge between the two unrelated (hence the title…) stories. In the press conference, Halliday said the second part of the book was more her normal writing style than the first. I thought that was too bad as the first reminded me quite a bit of Kurt Vonnegut. I put him right up there with the best American writers ever. The second part was not bad, just in a much longer and prosaic style. It reminded me of Phillip Roth.
It turns out similarity to Roth makes sense as the two of them were “very close friends,” according to Halliday. And the first part of the book was kind of an autobiography (a relationship between an aging writer and a young woman in the New York publishing industry). She also mentioned her work was influenced by a writer named Jeff Dyer with his work “Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi.” I had never heard of it, but she confessed the idea of the structure of her “Asymmetry” came from that book. I read some reviews of that work and can definitely see some pretty serious influence.
During her press conference, she discussed some of the asymmetry that appears in the novel; different ages, different genders, different holds on power (in a relationship), different religions, beliefs, experiences, and on and on. She said she wanted to ask if we can ever escape ourselves. and said she felt we can never really bridge the asymmetry of who we are versus who someone else is.
Me? I feel that is overthinking life way too much. I am much older than her, so maybe in my “wisdom” I have decided to not think so hard. That’s not to say I did not like her book. As I said, the first part reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut, which I mean as very high praise.
Here is a link to a review in New Yorker Magazine which gives her even higher praise.
David Litt
The final author I met was David Litt. This young man was one of the team of eight speechwriters for President Obama. He has just published a book titled “Thanks, Obama,” which chronicles his years in the White House.
David Litt answering a question during a press conference. He comes across as a very intelligent and thoughtful guy.
During the press conference, I think he wanted to relate funny or poignant stories about his experiences with the President. Or he wanted to discuss the process the writing team used to translate the President’s world view into words for the masses. He was able to do that a little bit, but (mind you I am the only American in the room, everyone else is Italian) the other journalists wanted to hear if he could write for the President today. He said he did not think the speechwriter had to agree with everything the President believes, but at least the big things. So, no he could not work in the White House today.
Since he said these days he was working with other candidates, I asked him if he thought there was anything traditional, serious political parties could do to push back against the wave of so-called populism of late. That “populism” is not only in the US, it is here in Italy, also in Poland, Austria, the UK and elsewhere. I identified Turkey and Hungary as perhaps being cautionary tales against too much populism.
He agreed with the last bit of my question but said he did not think populism is the correct way to describe what is happening politically these days. (Neither do I) He thinks the problem is demagogues as leaders, not populists. But then, in a more hopeful note, he talked about how the political landscape (at least in the US) really is changing. He pointed out the number of women and minority candidates who not only have run for office but have won elections. So he feels some push back has already started.
I have not yet read his book, but I found him an interesting and articulate and optimistic young man, so I will read it.
I spent two days at the book festival this year, which was not enough in my mind. In past editions I have visited all five days. But nonetheless, Pordenone Legge 2018 was a terrific success. Mark September 2019 on you calendars now! I know I have.
This all happened, more or less. Kurt Vonnegut in “Slaughterhouse 5”
