Jeffrey Eugenides on the writer’s craft
Eugenides at UWRF. Photo by Stanny Angga.
Some months ago I received, via email, an invitation to appear at the 9th Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) in Bali, Indonesia. Naturally I thought it was a mistake—I hadn’t done anything literary in years, I would be spotted instantly as a fraud. Then I saw the list of writers who were coming to the festival. It included novelists I regard with awe and terror, such as Jeffrey Eugenides (author of The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex), Chang-Rae Lee (The Surrendered) and Colson Whitehead (Sag Harbor, Zone One—probably the best zombie novel every written). I accepted the invitation and hoped the mistake would not be discovered till it was too late.
The UWRF was organized to support the community in the aftermath of the Bali bombings; since then it’s grown into the largest, most acclaimed literary festival in the region. This year 140 writers from 30 countries converged on picturesque Ubud, recognizable to many as the setting of Eat, Pray, Love (and of the asinine Julia Roberts movie). There were panel discussions, readings, workshops, tours, movies, a concert by Nick Cave, and film screenings. I participated in two panel sessions and managed not to get anything hurled at me (Given the large population of ducks roaming around the open-air venues it would’ve been easy to grab random fowl and throw them in anger).
The best part of the festival was sitting in the presence of some of the most gifted novelists of our time and hearing them talk about writing—not as some mystical experience/divinely-inspired ritual, but as a job they toil at, flesh, blood and brains. I tried to get an interview with Jeffrey Eugenides, whose first book The Virgin Suicides is my definition of “incandescent”, but he managed to evade my requests. I had to be content with attending his talk, which turned out to be better than my planned interview. The author was in good form, the moderator asked the right questions, and the audience was knowledgeable and appreciative.
“I’m always working on a book,” began Eugenides (Eu-GEN-ee-dees), 52. He took us back to the start of his career, when he was trying to get short stories published in magazines. Like most writers he amassed a collection of form rejection slips—sometimes there would be a scrawled “Try us again” at the bottom, and this would be enough encouragement for two years.
Read our column today in the Philippine Star.
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Eugenides said his all-time favorite book, the one he reads over and over again, is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
His other favorites are Herzog by Saul Bellow and the novels of Henry James (marriage plots!).
In middle age he’s come to revere Alice Munro.
Recently he enjoyed the Patrick Melrose novels of Edward St. Aubyn, which he pronounced delightful, funny and wicked.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
October 15th, 2012 at 11:57
What a treat to be able to attend his panel! I loved and reread both Virgin Suicides and Middlesex; it’s incredible how he can write these complex and experimental books (in terms of voice and tone) but still make the story engaging and full of heart. Too often one finds these experimental books cold or annoyingly clever, but with Eugenides the style doesn’t get in the way of the story.
That’s it, I’m getting The Marriage Plot in my lunch break.
October 15th, 2012 at 22:31
Incandescent – definitely. “Obviously, doctor, you’ve never been a 13-year old girl” was cold but loaded. It sounded like a pair of furious eyes holding back tears.
If the movie wasn’t so good, I might have resented the director for its “A Film by Sofia Ford Coppola”; if only “Based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides” had been in bigger font. It was the only time I paid any attention to Josh Hartnett – hair, clothes, strut – and actually found him attractive.
October 16th, 2012 at 23:02
When I came upon the book, “The Virgin Suicides” back in 2000’s, I didn’t know yet that the author is of Greek descent. I mispronounced his name and goes, “The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugen-ayds; wow, it rhymes!” But it didn’t took long before I corrected myself, as I opened the book. But for Middlesex, the main character’s name (Stephanides) really rhymes with the author’s; but then again, most Greek names sounds like that.
I’m sorry, I can’t help but noticed, looking at the picture taken by Stanny Angga at UWRF, is that his lucky shirt? I’m sure it’s the same shirt he wore last Miami Book Fair International 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eugenides,_Jeffrey.jpg