epilogue
Q&A
HUFFINGTON
09.23.12
What was the first book you remember thinking was worth reading?
Gravity’s Rainbow. I grew up in the Televangelistic capital of America – Akron, Ohio. I became very curious about
what was really happening in this world we lived in – what
was real, what made sense and what didn’t. I loved Gravity’s Rainbow’s dealing with free will and predestination
and turning a lot of common assumptions upside down, and
the fact that it easily moved between references and footnotes that were very scientific or philosophical or academic
and juxtaposed them with fictional ones, little mindless ditties and poems and the ridiculous kind of clutter that’s in
everyone’s mind at some point
in the day or in their life. I just
loved that so much, and it made
it a book that helped make the
I LOVED GRAVITY’S
world make sense to me.
RAINBOW’S DEALING
WITH FREE WILL
AND PREDESTINATION AND TURNING
A LOT OF COMMON
ASSUMPTIONS
UPSIDE DOWN.
Which author or work or fictional
character do you most identify with
artistically, and why? Probably our
main characters in 1984. I was
really impressed with Winston
Smith. The book that most
moved me in the past 10 years
was Everything Is Illuminated.
I liked Jonathan Safran Foer’s
storytelling methodology, and I felt there was something
fresh in his writing style. He seemed like somebody I would
really enjoy having lunch with, Jonathan. If we were somewhere where nobody felt like it was awkward or weird that
we were there together — like if we were waiting in an airport for a delayed flight, or something.
What role has literature played in your life? While I was taking an
English class in either my freshman or my sophomore year